In a week dominated by controversy over China’s soft power forays in Australian politics, a new report recommends the Australian government take practical steps to level the playing field, and exert some soft power of its own.
The report from Wanning Sun, professor of media and communication at the University of Technology, Sydney, suggests the Australian government “could take the opportunity to use Chinese online media to exert Australian soft power and explain its position on controversial matters such as the South China Sea dispute.”
It also suggests Australian business interests should be much more active on Chinese social media sites, like WeChat.
The new analysis considers whether or not Chinese media outlets in Australia are now little more than propagandists for the regime at home.
It notes that Chinese-language media in Australia used to be dominated by outlets catering to earlier Cantonese-speaking generations.
“Nowadays a vibrant media landscape has emerged that targets a Mandarin-speaking migrant community from the People’s Republic of China,” the report says. “Accompanying this shift in consumer demographic has been a discernible shift from a mostly critical coverage of China to a mostly supportive stance.”
The analysis notes that the shift in tone has happened during a period where the Chinese state-run media has become “to some extent, integrated with Chinese media in Australia.”
“That said, there is little clear evidence that such localised propaganda has a direct impact on Chinese-speaking audiences, let alone the broader Australian community,” the report says, noting Chinese migrants are often sceptical about state media, and have access outside China to a range of publications and points of view.
The report follows a week of controversy after it was revealed the Labor senator Sam Dastyari, asked a Chinese businessman to cover a travel overspend.
In asking for and accepting a payment of $1,670.82 from a businessman Minshen Zhu, Dastyari said he had “fallen short” in his duty as a member of parliament, and he resigned from the Labor front bench on Wednesday evening.
The imbroglio has triggered a conversation about China’s exercise of soft power in this country through business and political networks, and there is now a significant push on to ban foreign donations as part of an overhaul of the donations and disclosure system.
Malcolm Turnbull has also faced questions at the G20 and the East Asia Summit about China’s aggressive posture in the South China Sea, and the prime minster has called for a de-escalation of tensions.
The report says Chinese-language online media, particularly social media, has helped major Australian political parties to win votes from the Chinese diaspora.
“But they have also fanned Chinese nationalist sentiments, mostly siding with China if there is a potential clash between the two nations on matters of national pride, sovereignty and territoriality,” it says.
“This online space has also become a popular forum for the Chinese migrant students to express palpable frustration, even anger, with Australia’s perceived tendency to follow the United States in its foreign policy towards China.”
It suggests the Australian government should be less passive given there has been a huge expansion in the use and influence of Chinese online and social media: “It is not the exclusive domain of the Chinese government to spurt propaganda or give fuel to nationalist sentiment,” the report says.
“The Australian government, for example, could take the opportunity to use Chinese online media to exert Australian soft power and explain its position on controversial matters such as the South China Sea dispute,” it says.
“Likewise, Chinese social media are extremely powerful tools for networking with Chinese business individuals, promoting Australian brand names and products, identifying trade and investment opportunities, and targeting the Chinese population in order to grow one’s business clientele.”
“Yet due to cultural and linguistic barriers the mainstream Australian business sector has been slow to take advantage of what Chinese social media such as WeChat has to offer.”
