Entry veto for Aussie academics

BEIJING: China has barred entry to two “anti-China” Australian scholars, the Global Times newspaper said yesterday, citing unnamed sources, amid heightened tension between Beijing and Canberra.

The paper, published by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, identified the two as Clive Hamilton and Alex Joske.

It added that the decision came after Australia revoked the visas of two Chinese scholars over “alleged infiltration” in early September.

Ties have become strained over issues from trade disputes to Australia’s call for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus that first emerged in China late last year and accusations of Chinese meddling in domestic affairs.

“This ban is quite unexpected, although I have been on Beijing’s enemy list for some years,” Hamilton said.

He added that the ban against him and Joske was “retaliation” for the Australian government’s actions against Chinese scholars and that he decided “two or three years ago” it would be too dangerous to travel to China.

“Only when Beijing decides to stop interfering in Australian politics and attempting to bully the Australian government will relations improve. I hope that happens soon,” he said.

In a 2018 book, Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, accused China’s Communist Party of a campaign to exert influence in Australia’s domestic politics.

Joske is an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think-tank also based in the Australian capital, which the Global Times called “infamous for churning out anti-China propaganda and fabricating antiChina issues”.

He said on Twitter that the ban is the “latest in a series of attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to punish those who shine a light on its activities”.

He said he had come to the conclusion that the risk of travelling to China was “too high”, adding: “I have not held or applied for a Chinese visa for years.”