China challenges pro-democracy speech in Australia

It seems to me that this is just competing speech.  Both sides are having their say.  It is however deplorable that both sides are using methods characteristic of the Left.  The Left have set a very bad example that will now be increasingly used agaist them


Students, academics and officials in Australia and New Zealand, two of the modern world’s older democracies, now find their natural sympathy for the Hong Kong protesters colliding with their nations’ economic dependency on Beijing — a weakness the Chinese Communist Party isn’t hesitating to exploit.

The most visible flash point is on campus. Students who support and oppose the Chinese Community Party have spent recent days erecting, ripping down and restoring walls covered with cards and Post-it notes calling for freedom in Hong Kong at universities in the Australian cities of Sydney,

New post

Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, and in New Zealand.

“Beijing’s influence on campuses is responsible for widespread self-censorship by universities and academics in Australia and New Zealand,” said Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and author of “Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia.”

Every pro-democracy protest is countered by Beijing’s well-drilled student supporters. When some University of Sydney students proposed a protest Friday, which did not proceed, opponents shared notes on the Chinese WeChat platform about how to respond.

SOURCE