Chinese people seldom think about activities in their community that may affect their identity as Australians.
Building a Successful Shed
The feature in Issue 703 of Sameway Magazine talks about the Sheikh of Dubai incident in Hong Kong. Today, all information about the Sheikh has disappeared from the websites of various organizations in Hong Kong, and almost no one is talking about him, as if he has never existed. I believe that the chances of the Sheikh coming to Hong Kong before the end of May to continue with his investment promises are already very slim. In the feature, I have also mentioned that His Holiness Pema Osei (Dato’ Ng Tat Yung, now renamed as Prof. Ng Kong Ho) has become a world leader in 2013 by building a stage for him with the Melbourne expatriates. His Holiness is described on the official website of his foundation as “an internationally recognized philanthropist, public diplomat, inventor and spiritual teacher”. His role as a “public diplomat” is one that I have wondered about over the years, what exactly does he do? Recently, I have been looking up some websites related to His Holiness, and I found some clues that Chinese Australians should pay attention to.
Since 2013, His Holiness has gained the support and recognition of various major Chinese community associations in Melbourne. His World Trade United Foundation has organized ten “Global Forums on Water Sustainability”, of which the sixth (2014) and the tenth (2018) were both held in Melbourne. The Foundation’s website still maintains a record of the events since 2013, and many Melbourne leaders have been recognized as executives of the organization over the years, so you only need to spend a little time to see how Melbourne leaders have stood up for him over the years.
I attended one of these forums and recognized that it was not an academic conference, just a dinner. With only invited guests delivering speeches and awards being presented to the various delegates in attendance, it could be described as a showcase for the collaborative relationships that members of His Holiness’s team have forged. At the 2018 Forum, I was surprised to learn that, in addition to Melbourne’s Chinese Consul, Victoria’s MP, and the second generation of China’s military, there were at least 15 dignitaries, such as ambassadors and ministers, from other countries, who were honored with awards. What on earth were these delegates doing in Melbourne, traveling all the way from overseas to participate in the Forum, just for this one dinner? The guests of honor at that time included the head of the Ministry of United Front Work of the Chinese government, and as shown in the photos on the event website, there were H.E. Tapusalaia Toomata, the then Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Samoan Independent State in China, H.E. Tau’aika ‘Uta’atu, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Tonga in China, and H.E. Carlson D. Apis, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federated States of Micronesia to China.
These ambassadors were all high ranking officials of the Pacific Islands at the time, and they came to Melbourne to discuss diplomatic matters, and His Holiness really deserved the title of “public diplomat”. I do not know how the Australian government, which has been ridiculed by the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for treating the Pacific Islands as its backyard, can understand how these diplomatic activities of gathering dignitaries in Melbourne through the activities of the Chinese community and making contacts with world leaders could have developed into the present-day situation that affects and threatens Australia’s security, and which has caused the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, to be tired of running for her life, so much so that she has to make repeated visits to Pacific Islands to prevent the entry of Chinese forces into Australia’s backyard. I do not know even more. I wonder if the local Chinese leaders who supported, planned, organized and promoted these activities at that time feel that they have done something that threatens Australia’s security today.
The fact that many of the Pacific Island countries are now working closely with China and distancing themselves from Australia shows that His Holiness’s activities in Australia over the past decade or so have clearly paid off, and it is no wonder that His Holiness is still active around the world today, continuing his career as a “public diplomat”.
The Role of Chinese Leaders
Judging from today’s results, what the Chinese community leaders were promoting at that time could not be simply described as community activities. If the Australian Security and Intelligence Office (ASIO) had looked into these activities and investigated the Chinese leaders who promoted them, it is not sure whether the actions of some of them might have been considered as “endangering Australia’s national security”. What is certain, however, is that if the same events were to be held in Melbourne today, the enthusiasm of the Chinese leaders for the events might not be the same as before. At least some Australian politicians have disavowed their involvement with similar organizations following the enactment of Australia’s Anti-Foreign Intervention Act in 2018. However, on His Holiness’s website, today I still find the names and photos of Melbourne Chinese leaders listed as leaders of the Foundation in the 2021 records.
I once found the name of a Chinese leader whom I respect listed there, and when I asked him about it, he told me he had no idea about it. It turns out that the names listed may not necessarily be agreed and recognized by the person concerned, and anyway, if the person concerned does not know about it and there is no way to pursue the matter, then the person who has done this will have passed the test. But today, the problem may become serious. I believe that Chinese leaders should be more vigilant and should not be exploited.
Recently, His Holiness has been active as Prof. Wu Ganghao in the promotion of meta-universe, which is a hot topic in the science and technology sector. He has become the executive chairman of the “Global Meta-Universe Conference”, and he continues to promote his “diplomacy” activities around the world. If His Holiness comes back to Australia one day, will the Chinese leaders continue to carry his sedan chair for him?
The Myth of Chinese Identity
It is rare for Chinese people to think of their activities in the community as having an impact on their identity as Australians. Chinese people in their 70s and 80s came to Australia around the end of the Second World War. Many of them came from Guangdong because their fathers and grandfathers had already settled in Australia. When they came to Australia, China and Australia had not yet established diplomatic relations, and they were not yet sure whether they were nationals of the Republic of China (ROC) or the People’s Republic of China (PRC). They only saw that their own culture was different from that of the Australian society, and they had a strong feeling that they were expatriates without a country. They may think that one day they will return to their homeland, but politically they only hope for peace and unification of China. Therefore, unifying the Chinese to protect themselves from bullying in Australia became the goal and main function of the society. These Chinese leaders hoped to see the unification and China being strong, and seldom thought about what kind of Australians they should be.
However, most of the Chinese who came to settle in Australia after the 1970s are no longer related to the Chinese of the Gold Rush era. They are more likely to be Chinese from the Commonwealth countries who have left to study and become professionals in Australia. They have a certain status and professional identity in the society, and they recognize themselves as Australians, and do not necessarily participate in the activities of Chinese societies. However, most of them still have contact and relationship with the Chinese community, but they do not have much influence in the Chinese community.
In the 80’s and 90’s, some Chinese from Hong Kong set up a number of social or service organizations, which provided a lot of services to the Chinese community. They seldom talked about their home country and their identity, but only wanted to serve the Chinese in the community, and they did not take the initiative to establish a close relationship with the Chinese government. However, the Chinese who came from China in the early 1990s, although they stayed behind because of the June 4 incident, worked hard to establish cooperation with China, and took advantage of China’s economic development to build their own businesses in Australia. Many of today’s Chinese business and community leaders are successful expatriates who have capitalized on their relationship with China and combined it with business in Australia. However, these people have stayed in Australia for more than 30 years and are no longer able to connect with China today in terms of life and thinking, forming the backbone of today’s Chinese community.
Many of the immigrants who came after 2000 were middle-aged people who uprooted themselves to rebuild their lives in China, either by becoming students or by having established careers in China. They grew up in China and were influenced by their patriotic education, but did not analyze in depth the phenomena caused by the rise of China in the global West. They are enjoying the opportunities given to them by China, and they like the life and freedom in Australia, but they do not want to integrate into this society. For them, they like being Australian and enjoy being Chinese.
When the relationship between Australia and China is harmonious, they feel that they have a lot of opportunities and that the Australian society gives them a lot of possibilities. However, when the relationship between Australia and China is tense, they feel that they don’t know whether to go back to China or to Australia, and some of them are caught in a dilemma. Some of them are caught in the dilemma of whether to stay in Australia or go back to China. As they are financially and educationally well-off, they are also easily caught in the dilemma of choosing between the two.
Due to China’s one-child policy, there is a group of retired migrants in Australia who migrate to Australia because of their children. There are quite a number of them, they are financially well off and have a successful career, but they don’t know English and don’t know much about the western social system. However, they have a lot of experience and connections in China, so as long as their age and health are still good, they can have a period of time to create their own new life in Australia. For these people, the ability to identify and decide their future identity and role earlier will open up new horizons for their future.