On 17 September 2018, The Vision China Times hosted an informal roundtable discussion at the NSW State Library on Australia-China relations and its inadvertent impact on Australia’s Chinese community.

Panelists included:
Professor Rory Medcalf – Head of National Security College, ANU
Mr Benjamin Chow, AO BE – Chairman of Mindax Ltd; co-chair of the Liberal Party Chinese Council
Professor James Laurenceson – Deputy Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS
Mr John Hugh – Australian Values Alliance
Ms Linda Jakobson – Funding Director of China Matters                                                                                             Professor Chongyi Feng – Associate Professor in China Studies at UTS
Mr Nick McKenzie – Senior investigative journalist; leading journalist on the joint Four Corners-Fairfax investigation “Power & Influence”
Dr Merriden Varrall – Director of Geopolitics and Tax at KPMG

Topics explored were:

• The inadvertent impact and possible stigmatisation of Chinese-Australians and Chinese students during this debate

• Confucius Institutes, political donations, United Front, censorship and self-censorship.

• Are we in a period of China hysteria?

• The role played by Australia’s English and Chinese language media

This forum was hosted because a lot of the public discussion around the passing of the foreign interference legislation has been quite different in the mainstream to that within the Chinese community. The aim of this event was to bring together informed and involved people who hold a range of opinions, both from academia, media and those within the Chinese community, to engage in a open and respectful discussion about these important issues.

This roundtable was moderated by Kelsey Munro, senior contributing journalist at SBS News, formerly at Sydney Morning Herald.

There were Q&A at the end of the forum from members of the audience.

Chinese: 一次畅所欲言的“圆桌会议”