到截稿为止，已经有将近60位澳洲学者联名致信，要求联邦政府取消反间谍法。签名学者认为，出台这个法案是受到了一场"危言耸听"、"诋毁"澳洲华人的辩论所驱动。
悉尼科技大学孙婉宁教授接受SBS采访表示，很多人不敢说话，因为担心被指称为“间谍”。
联名信原文如下（截至26日共66人联名）：
NB: The following open letter was submitted on Monday March 19 to the parliamentary review of Australia’s new national security laws. Signatures were still being collected at time of submission, and we have decided to continue soliciting support for it, and to publish it in a public forum. Colleagues interested in adding their name should contact David Brophy or Wanning Sun.
Committee Secretary
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security PO Box 6021
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
19 March 2018
A Submission from Concerned Scholars of China and the Chinese Diaspora to the Review of the Espionage and Foreign Interference Bill 2017
As scholars of China and the Chinese diaspora, we write to express our concern regarding the proposed revision of Australia’s national security laws. We do so on two grounds; first, the new laws would imperil scholarly contributions to public debate on matters of importance to our nation; and second, the debate surrounding “Chinese influence” has created an atmosphere ill-suited to the judicious balancing of national security interests with the protection of civil liberties. We wish to express our disagreement with some of the key claims that have been raised in the course of this discussion of Chinese influence in Australia.
1. The Threat to Intellectual Freedom
A healthy media environment relies on the participation of scholars to contribute their expertise, particularly in fields such as ours which cultivate specific regional knowledge. We view our contributions as part of our role as scholars and educators. Scholars in our field frequently receive requests to discuss issues that touch on questions of national security, and we
anticipate such requests only becoming more frequent as discussion surrounding the People’s Republic of China encounters issues of political interference, espionage, and the possibility of regional conflict. We are alarmed that the new legislation would criminalise the simple act of receiving information deemed harmful to the national interest, let alone discussing it in public. While exemptions have been proposed for journalists, this does nothing to assuage our concern that the freedom of scholars to fulfil their public function will be threatened by these laws.
2. The Debate on Chinese Influence
An important element of the background to this legislation is the debate on Chinese influence in Australia. We are well aware that China's rise has many implications for Australia, and confronts us with difficult questions. To best meet this challenge, journalists, scholars, and politicians should strive to provide the Australian public with an accurate picture of the shifting global
situation and Australia's position within it, and engage as wide a range of viewpoints as possible, Chinese and non-Chinese alike. Unfortunately, we believe prevailing trends in the public discussion of China have not met these expectations.
We strongly reject any claim that the community of Australian experts on China, to which we belong, has been intimidated or bought off by pro-PRC interests. We situate ourselves in a strong Australian tradition of critical engagement with the Chinese political system, and it is precisely our expertise on China that leads us to be sceptical of key claims of this discourse. We see no evidence, for example, that China is intent on exporting its political system to Australia, or that its actions aim at compromising our sovereignty. We believe the parliament would be wrong to be guided by such assumptions in its debate on these laws.
Where criticism of China's actions is substantiated by clear evidence, there should be no hesitation in applying scrutiny and appropriate penalties. Too often, though, the media narrative in Australia singles out the activities of individuals and organisations thought to be linked to the Chinese state and isolates them from a context of comparable activity, engaged in by a range of parties (among them our allies). In doing so it puts a sensational spin on facts and events.
Instead of a narrative of an Australian society in which the presence of China is being felt to a greater degree in series of disparate fields, we are witnessing the creation of a racialised narrative of a vast official Chinese conspiracy. In the eyes of some, the objective of this conspiracy is no less than to reduce Australia to the status of a “tribute state” or “vassal”. The discourse is couched in such a way as to encourage suspicion and stigmatisation of Chinese Australians in general.
The alarmist tone of this discourse impinges directly on our ability to deal with questions involving China in the calm and reasoned way they require. Already it is dissuading Chinese Australians from contributing to public debate for fear of being associated with such a conspiracy. Chinese in Australia, whether citizens of our country or not, expect and deserve the same freedoms as anyone else in our democratic system: to express opinions on any question, and to support or criticise any policy. Whether a scholar at an Australian university, or a student from the PRC, Hongkong, or Taiwan, all should be able to express their point of view without it being dismissed by accusations that they speak on behalf of hostile foreign interests.
To the extent that the Chinese Communist Party seeks to infringe on these rights to freedom of expression, appropriate steps may be required. But any such foreign influence, where it might exist, is not the only, or even the primary, reason for the shortage of Chinese voices in Australian public life. To depict the issue in these terms is to ignore Australian society's own failure to render its mainstream more accessible to diverse viewpoints, a flaw long evident before the current scare surrounding the PRC.
We should be vigilant that public discourse in Australia does not create undue pressure on one particular section of our society to demonstrate its loyalty to Australia at the expense of its freedom to criticise Australian policies and actions. The complex political landscape of Chinese Australia is not reducible to a simplistic “pro-” or “anti-Beijing” binary. Yet, if the debate continues to be conducted in these terms, with commentators speculating as to the supposedly divided loyalties of Chinese Australians, or contemplating punitive measures to restrict the rights of those identified as “pro-Beijing”, we run the risk of creating just such a polarisation.
We have in Australia’s mature multicultural society the capacity to conduct this important debate with much greater rigor, balance, and honesty than we have so far. We call on all those involved in the debate to work towards this end.
Such an informed debate should form part of the much wider public consultation that we believe is necessary surrounding these laws, and we ask that the draft legislation be withdrawn until such time as that consultation can occur.
Signatories to the submission:
- David Brophy, Senior Lecturer, History, University of Sydney
- Stephen Fitzgerald AO, First Ambassador of Australia to the People’s Republic of China
- Wanning Sun FAHA, Professor, Media and Communication, UTS
- Sophie Loy-Wilson, Lecturer, History, University of Sydney
- Fran Martin, Reader in Cultural Studies, University of Melbourne
- Louise Edwards FAHA, Scientia Professor, UNSW
- Luigi Tomba, Professor and Director, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney
- David Goodman, Emeritus Professor, Sydney University, Vice President Academic Affairs, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou
- Jocelyn Chey, Professor, Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University
- Gao Jia, Associate Professor, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne
- Haiqing Yu, Associate Professor, Media and Communication, RMIT University
- Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, ANU
- Andres Rodriguez, Senior Lecturer, History, University of Sydney
- Ien Ang FAHA, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
- Jian Xu, Lecturer in Communication, School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University
- Yingjie Guo FAHA, Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney
- Geremie Barmé FAHA, Founding Director of the Australian Centre on China in the World, ANU
- Chengxin Pan, Associate Professor of International Relations, Deakin University.
- Yeow-Tong Chia, Senior Lecturer, Sydney School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney.
- Michael Fabinyi, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney.
- Michael Keane, Professor, Media and Communication, Curtin University, Western Australia
- Xianlin Song, Associate Professor, Asian Studies, The University of Western Australia
- Adrian Vickers FAHA, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Sydney
- Greg McCarthy, Professor, Political Science and International Relations, University of Western Australia
- Emilian Kavalski, Associate Professor of Global Studies, Australian Catholic University
- Colin Mackerras AO, Emeritus Professor, Griffith University
- Mobo Gao, Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Adelaide
- Kam Louie FAHA, Honorary Professor, UNSW
- Kate Bagnall, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Wollongong
- Qian Gong, Lecturer in Chinese, Curtin University, Western Australia
- Subsequent signatories (as of Monday 26 March):
- Kai He, Professor, International Relations, Griffith University
- Gloria Davies, Professor, Chinese Studies, Monash University
- Lewis Mayo, Senior Lecturer, Chinese Studies, University of Melbourne
- James Curran, Professor, History, University of Sydney
- Olivier Krischer, Deputy Director, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney
- Denis Byrne, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, University of WS
- Terry Woronov, Senior Lecturer, Anthropology, University of Sydney
- Michael Williams, Adjunct Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
- Jingqing Yang, Associate Professor, China Studies, UTS
- Elaine Jeffreys, Professor, University of Technology Sydney
- Lai-ha Chan, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology, Sydney
- Sally Sargeson, Associate Professor, Chinese Studies, Australian National University
- Tamara Jacka, Professor, Chinese Studies, Australian National University
- Nadia Rhook, Lecturer, History, University of Western Australia
- Jonathan Benney, Lecturer, Chinese Studies, Monash University
- Jane Golley, Professor and Director, Australian Centre on China in the World, ANU
- Richard Rigby, Professor and Director, China Institute, ANU
- Ryan Manuel, AsiaGlobal Fellow, Hong Kong University
- Paul Farrelly, Research Officer, Australian Centre on China in the World, ANU
- Andrew Chubb, Postdoctoral Fellow, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton
- James Reilly, Associate Professor, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney
- Minerva Inwald, Teaching Fellow, History, University of Sydney
- Amy King, Senior Lecturer, ANU, and Westpac Bicentennial Foundation Research Fellow
- Claire Roberts FAHA, Associate Professor of Art History, The University of Melbourne
- Nicholas Jose, Professor of English and Creative Writing, The University of Adelaide
- Colin Hawes, Associate Professor & Director of Courses, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney
- Stephen Whiteman, Senior Lecturer in Asian Art, Art History, University of Sydney
- Helen Dunstan FAHA, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney
- Ruth Gamble, David Myers Research Fellow, La Trobe University
- Kanishka Jayasuriya, Professor, Politics and International Studies, Murdoch University
- Christen Cornell, Researcher and Honorary Associate, Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney
- Ying Jiang, Senior Lecturer, Media, University of Adelaide
- Shahar Hameiri, Associate Professor, International Politics, University of Queensland
- Tom Cliff, Research Fellow, Australian National University
- John Makeham FAHA, Professor and Director, China Studies Research Centre， La Trobe University
- Natalie Koehle, Postdoctoral Fellow, Australian Centre on China in the World, ANU
