Asian embassies attacked as Australian race debate rages
Asian embassies attacked as Australian race debate rages
SYDNEY (AFP): The Australian government has been forced to
upgrade diplomatic security after Chinese and Malaysian missions
were both targeted in attacks blamed on a race debate raging
here, officials said yesterday.
Missiles were fired, probably by a slingshot, through the
windows of the Chinese Consulate-General here on four consecutive
nights in October, a foreign affairs spokesman in Canberra told
AFP.
China's ambassador, Hua Junduo, complained to the Australian
government on Monday about the consequences for bilateral
relationships of the fierce debate sparked by an independent MP's
comments that immigration should be halted.
Racist hate mail has been sent to the Malaysian consulate in
Sydney and Kuala Lumpur has reported to Canberra that its staff
here has received death threats.
The incidents, highly embarrassing to the Australian
government, have come at a time when relationships with some
Asian neighbors, particularly China, are proving fragile.
Beijing has protested about the recent visit by the Dalai
Lama, cuts in foreign aid and the increasing warmth of the U.S.-
Australia alliance with upgraded defense arrangements which it
fears are aimed at containing China.
The now notorious anti-Asian comments of independent MP
Pauline Hanson, which are being blamed for the attacks have
angered China, Singapore and Thailand, among others.
They were particularly concerned that Prime Minister John
Howard did not directly condemn Hanson who told parliament in her
maiden speech that Australia was being "swamped with Asians" and
called for a halt to immigration.
A Thai senator called recently for Howard's resignation over
the issue.
Efforts to hose it down with a strong bipartisan motion
condemning racism and affirming government support for a non-
discriminatory immigration policy appears to have failed to
satisfy at least the Chinese.
The attacks on the consulates were confirmed by a foreign
affairs spokesman who said: "The Federal Police are investigating
these incidents as a matter of great concern. The Australian
government is very concerned."
He said the incidents had been reported to the Diplomatic
Protection Service which is responsible for the protection of
diplomatic premises in Australia.
The attacks on the Chinese mission occurred between Oct. 15
and 18 at the height of the row over the Hanson speech, which
polls suggest won widespread support in the Australian community.
Melbourne's lord mayor and former car industry chief Ivan
Deveson meantime warned Friday that Australian politicians should
visit Asia to repair the damage done to the country's image by
the race row.
Deveson, former head of Nissan Australia, told a business
luncheon in Adelaide that a recent trip to Asia was marred by
racial threats provoked by Hanson's comments.
He said it was now up to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and
Prime Minister John Howard to heal the rift.
"I think either Mr Downer or Mr Howard should go and meet our
major Asian partners face-to-face and put to them for once and
for all any doubt about the fact that we have an on-going
commitment to multi-culturalism," Deveson told reporters.
"We are a very successful multi-cultural nation, but in my
visit to the area last week, I was personally devastated by the
press and the innuendos and some mild threats that accompanied me
wherever I went."