Legacies of the Uyghur Homeland and Uyghur-Australians
Other Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
This chapter provides an overview of how a series of events in Australia, called here China’s ‘down under blunders’, unfolded. However, it also examines how these events were reported by the media, how they were received by the public, and how they may have influenced political debate at the time. During this period, Australia’s prime minister was the Mandarin speaking Kevin Rudd, and there was an early fear that he may pander to the Chinese, to the detriment of Australia’s relationships with the United States and Japan. Therefore, the 2009 events were also an important test of Rudd’s leadership on issues related to the PRC. The events also coincided with the arrest in China of Rio Tinto’s Stern Hu, a Chinese-born Australian citizen who was initially charged with stealing state secrets – although charges were later downgraded to corruption and bribery charges – and who is still serving a lengthy jail sentence in China. Therefore, sections of the electorate were wary of China and there was an undercurrent of fear over the rise of China among the Australian population. This climate potentially made it easier for mainstream Australians to lend their support to the Uyghur cause, especially when faced with what was widely perceived to be heavy handedness and a threatening Chinese state.
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Legacies of violence: rendering the unspeakable past in modern Australia
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9781785334375
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34
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Berghahn
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New York
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