By Cindy Zhan
March 1, 2023 Updated: March 7, 2023
The Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) flag encroaches onto the Australian flag. (Oleksii / Adobe Stock)
Australian students are
allegedly being “indoctrinated with Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda” in
taxpayer-funded community language schools, a Chinese language school principal
has warned.
Dr. Bin Lin founded his
community language school, the Academy of Chinese Culture, 12 years ago and has
been its principal ever since.
Lin alleges that the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has infiltrated community Chinese language
schools and is brainwashing Australian students by sending teaching materials
and teachers, issuing certificates to “Chinese language education demonstration
schools,” and organizing activities such as winter/summer camps and poetry
readings.
“Most of the teachers are
from mainland China. It is natural for them to educate students in the same way
as the Communist Party,” Lin told The Epoch Times on Feb. 27.
“These teachers verbally
teach that ‘we Chinese should love our motherland.’”
“These students are
Australian nationals, so you can’t say they’re Chinese.”
“There are also schools
that use Mao Zedong (the founder of the People’s Republic of China)’s poetry as
recitation materials. … The materials from China only provide the propaganda
view of the CCP.”
Students Praising Mao Zedong as ‘Great Man’
Lin, who has a PhD degree
in political science from the University of New South Wales, said that the
strongest penetration was in the various [cultural] activities organized by the
CCP.
“Students from language
schools participate in various winter or summer camps [promoted by the CCP] and
receive a lot of CCP propaganda during the trip,” he said.
Lin provided a copy of
the registration notice for the “Journey to the Roots” winter camp issued by
the Consulate General in Sydney, which indicated that “accommodation, food, study,
visits, transportation, and other expenses are covered by the Overseas Chinese
Affairs Office” for the campers.
The website of a
community language school in Sydney published an article written in Mandarin by
a student who attended a winter camp held in Hunan Province, the hometown of
Mao Zedong, praising Mao, the man who started the Cultural Revolution,
which persecuted up to 20 million people.
The student wrote that
after visiting Mao’s hometown, he felt he knew “nothing” about this leader and
now understood that he had been misrepresented by foreigners and called Mao “a
great man.”
Lin had previously served
as principal of a pro-CCP Chinese language school in Sydney. He was removed
from a Chinese language school in South Sydney after the Chinese Consulate
expressed concern about his role as principal.
According to another
document offered by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the Consulate
General in Sydney to select “Chinese Language Education Demonstration Schools,”
one of the basic criteria for a demonstration school is “supporting ‘One China’
and opposing any anti-Chinese government actions and organizations such as
Taiwan independence, Tibet independence, Xinjiang independence, pro-democracy
movements, and Falun Gong.”
The document offered by
Lin, which helps to define the selection process for the model schools, states
that “the overseas embassies and consulates will review and submit a
recommendation list to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State
Council,” which is an external name of the CCP’s United Front Work Department.
According to the CCP’s
official media China News Service, the
overseas “Chinese language education demonstration schools” evaluation
activities were launched at the end of 2008 and organized by the Overseas
Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and the China Overseas Exchange
Association.
In August 2009, the
Overseas Chinese Affairs Office announced the first batch of overseas “Chinese
language education demonstration schools.” A total of 55 Chinese language
schools in 21 countries were selected, among which there were four schools in
Australia.
In the second batch of
“Chinese Language Education Demonstration Schools” announced in 2011,
four Australian community language schools were included, including Sydney
Datong Chinese School, Feng Hua Chinese School, Sydney Chinese School, and
Chung Wah Chinese School Leeming.
‘Government Not Doing Enough’
The NSW Department of
Education website shows that
there are 125 registered Chinese Community Language Schools in the state, which
teach in public school classrooms after school hours and on weekends.
Each school is eligible
to receive a $2,500 grant from the NSW Department of Education to establish a
campus and up to $10,000 for materials and training activities.
Lin believes that the
Australian government is not doing enough to monitor the teaching and learning
in community language schools, especially the activities that are held in
community schools. He called on the government to pay attention to Beijing’s
infiltration into community language schools.
A spokesperson for the
NSW Department of Education said that the department would look into these
concerns.
“Although community
language schools such as this are independent, non-profit organizations run by
community groups after school hours, we will examine the concerns raised and
take appropriate action if necessary,” the spokesperson told Sky News.”
Wen Qingyang contributed to this report.
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