Australia: Justice vs Coercion and Discrimination - Sydney University Upholds Its Principles

After a five-day "Uncompromising Spirit" art exhibition was held at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), an unusual conflict between justice and coercion and discrimination happened at this university. The exhibition was a big success with linguist and campaigner for liberty, Michael Darby, renowned jurist Yuan Hongbin, a faculty member from the University of Sydney and Australian Chinese Artist Zhang Cuiying attending its opening ceremony. However, after the exhibition news was published at Minghui.ca and other Chinese language websites, some high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party were outraged and decided to put pressure on the university. As the UTS has investments in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the CCP threatened to confiscate its properties in the two cities unless it removed the name of the Falun Dafa club and information about the club from its website.

UTS has a lot international students, including many from Mainland China. Facing the possible loss of university assets and incoming Chinese students, some staff members at the university adjusted the website to filter out all terms related to Falun Dafa.

Upon hearing this news, the Student Representative Council (SRC) passed a resolution, sent letters of condemnation to the Registrar, the university Vice Chancellor and the local state member of parliament, asking why UTS would discriminate against the club?

The incident is in line with allegations by Chinese defector Chen Yonglin of a general pattern of harassment and monitoring of Australian Falun Gong practitioners by Chinese Government agents, and thus the Australian media outlets and public are very concerned with how the CCP has infiltrated Australia to harass local residents.

UTS "Uncompromising Spirit" exhibition shocks faculty and students

Facing the voice of justice, at a Vice Chancellor's meeting on June 20, UTS Vice Chancellor Ross Milbourne restated the university's attitude on this issue. He acknowledged that the university had been pressured by the CCP, however, he said that the university would uphold its principles and support Falun Dafa and other organisations' rights. It was decided to reinstate Falun Gong club's name on the University website though the university knew the consequences: the CCP could block the UTS website, resulting in loss of incoming Chinese students and university revenue.

University of Technology, Sydney reinstates the Falun Dafa Club's information on its website

The UTS has many student organisations, from culture, sports to meditation and religion. The Falun Dafa club is one of these and is listed at the website of the university Union. Besides offering free teaching on campus, the club also organised an "Uncompromising Spirit" art exhibition this past April with support from the university. Featuring paintings of practitioner artists, the exhibition presented UTS students and faculty the beauty brought to the artists by the practice and revealed the brutality of the ongoing persecution of innocent Falun Gong practitioners in China.

This exhibition attracted many students, especially Chinese international students. One student said: "In China, the government always lies to us. All media are owned by the CCP, and they have been spreading propaganda to turn public opinion against Falun Gong. We don't know anything about what the government has been doing under the table. We have only learned the truth of the persecution from this exhibition, fliers we received on streets and some local news reports. As we have learned the truth, we won't listen to the propaganda any more. I feel that this exhibition is very shocking."

Another Chinese international student said: "From what I have learned in China, Falun Gong has always been depicted to be very bad. However, if what is shown by the paintings is true, the persecution is too brutal."

Student Representative Council President Michelle Sparkes said there is continuing concern by the council about occasions of discrimination against the Falun Dafa meditation club, because of pressure from the Chinese Government. The latest episode was the deletion of the club and any mention of Falun Dafa from the Union website.

"[We] were aware it was because of the political pressure due to China's disapproval of the movement in China," said Ms Sparkes. The SRC passed a resolution, sent letters of condemnation to the Registrar, the university Vice Chancellor and the local state member of parliament.

Benjamin of the Falun Dafa Club said: "This incident is another example of how the CCP has been using commercial interests to pressure Australian society. The club thanks the university for resisting such pressure and upholding its principles. The club also thanks the SRC and Student Union for their support."

Benjamin also said: "Members of our club are happy for the university because it chose to uphold justice and principles despite its possible loss of revenue. By doing so, the university has sent a strong message to the CCP: their underhanded methods won't be accepted by Australians."

Regarding the fact that many other Australian universities are facing the same threat and pressure from CCP, Ben said: "I hope other universities will uphold their principles as the UTS has done. Never trade principles for commercial interests! I also hope the Australian governments will pay attention to this issue to protect Australia and its universities from being harmed by the CCP and protect Australia's values of democracy and freedom from being sacrificed for commercial interests."