Analyst: ‘Racism’ Claims Are Muzzling CCP Interference Warnings—Exactly What Beijing Wants
Analyst: ‘Racism’ Claims Are Muzzling CCP Interference Warnings—Exactly What Beijing Wants. ‘It’s critical to be able to talk about Beijing ... in a way that doesn’t allow the issue to be turned back on those who raise it,’ says one defence expert.
Udumbara
.
Concerns about Chinese foreign interference are too easily being derailed by claims of “racism,” creating a chilling effect that one expert warns is serving the interests of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Michael Shoebridge, a director at Strategic Analysis Australia and former intelligence officer, shared the remarks following the May election. It also comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese prepares for his fourth high level meeting with the CCP leadership.
“It’s critical to be able to talk about Beijing’s use of its ‘magical weapon'—its United Front Work Department (UFWD) and all ethnic groups and organisations it influences across the world, including Australia, in a way that doesn’t allow the issue to be turned back on those who raise it,” he told The Epoch Times.
Political debate took a strange turn during the May election, when Liberal Senator Jane Hume alleged during a TV segment that “Chinese spies” were handing out flyers for Labor Housing Minister Clare O’Neil.
Hume’s comments came amid revelations two Chinese volunteers for Teal MP Monique Ryan were actually encouraged to do so by a group linked to the UFWD in Beijing.
The UFWD is a special agency tasked with overseas infiltration—particularly of diaspora communities—to advance the CCP’s overseas interests.
Playing into Beijing’s Hands
Shoebridge noted that political parties should look at the bigger picture when raising concerns about the CCP’s interference in Australian politics.“This is not about being [against] our 1.2 million Chinese Australian population or even ‘anti-China,’” he said.
“It is about being opposed to the Chinese government’s well-resourced organisations, which do interfere with and damage our democratic processes.”
The defence expert also warned that Australian political parties were at risk of falling into the CCP’s trap by weaponising concerns about foreign interference.
“Without focusing clearly on the Chinese government in this area of policy, Australian politicians play straight into CCP propagandists’ hands, by allowing them to claim anyone who talks about Beijing’s foreign interference activities as somehow biased against 1.2 million Australians,” he said.
“It also lets the issue be talked about as one that is all about social division in our nation.
Chinese Community Diverse in Ancestry and Loyalties: Professor
Meanwhile, Emeritus Professor John Fitzgerald from Swinburne University of Technology highlighted that the Chinese community in Australia was not a single, unified entity with loyalties to the CCP.“Among those born overseas, 536,000 were born in China, and the remainder elsewhere, including Taiwan and Southeast Asia.”
Moreover, not every Chinese-born person is eligible to vote in the federal election.
“As of June 2022, just 36.5 percent of permanent residents born in China who arrived since 2000 were eligible to vote as Australian citizens,” Fitzgerald wrote.
“So, even excluding the temporary students and workers … relatively few permanent residents from China have chosen to become eligible voters in Australia in the past 25 years.”
.
The professor further stated that the diversity of the Chinese community reflected a diversity of opinion about the CCP and Australia-China issues.
“Australia is home to diverse Chinese-heritage communities, and their views and sentiments are as varied as their places of birth and their professional and personal inclinations,” he wrote.
Likewise, Shoebridge pointed out that a significant proportion of the Chinese community in Australia were not “big fans” of the CCP.
“Many of them left China specifically because they did not want to live under CCP rule, and all Australians value our freedoms and democracy and are unlikely to support a ruthless authoritarian regime like [CCP leader ] Xi Jinping’s,” he said.
“Some, like those with close family members in China who can be used as leverage by the regime, are open to pressure from United Front groups and the Chinese government’s embassy and consulates to show they obey instructions.
Voting Patterns Scare Policymakers, Strategists
Prior to the 2022 federal election, many seats with significant Chinese populations were held by the Liberal Party.It was reported that some Chinese-Australians opposed the Morrison government rhetoric against the CCP’s handling of COVID-19.
The polling trends continued in 2025, with results showing substantial swings toward Labor in Chinese-heavy electorates in Sydney and Melbourne—but in seats like Menzies in Melbourne, the Liberal Party’s vote actually held steady.
Nevertheless, these results have convinced policymakers to be more careful regarding their rhetoric towards the CCP, as a way to win back support.
In fact, during CCP Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia in June 2024, then-Opposition Leader Peter Dutton adopted a “pro-China” stance, saying he wanted to see improvement in trade ties.
.
Fitzgerald said politicians needed to understand that Chinese-Australians were not necessarily concerned about an bilateral diplomatic ties, but rather wanted a sense of belonging in the community.
“The lesson of the 2025 election is not that people should be careful when they speak about China, but rather that they should be careful of what they say about Chinese-Australians,” he wrote.
“In fact, Australian political leaders can speak frankly about China’s military and political activities in the South China Sea and elsewhere without fear of a voter backlash, and they must do so if only to show that Beijing cannot play around in Australian electoral politics without penalty.”
Echoing the sentiment, Shoebridge said politicians should do more to help the Chinese community better understand the CCP’s “foreign interference activities” in Australia.
“I think clarity about the Chinese government’s foreign interference activities would be welcomed as much by our Australian Chinese population as the rest of the population,” he said.
.
