Highlights
- China Daily newspaper last week reported Australia had recently deported two Chinese students for failing to disclose military training they had undergone at university
- China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says 'groundless questioning and searching' of Chinese students violate their rights
- Future Chinese visa applicants have been advised to disclose their university military training to avoid 'unnecessary suspicion' by immigration officials
Immigration agents are advising future Chinese visa holders to disclose their involvement in school military training after the recent deportation of two Chinese international students from Sydney.
Last week, state-controlled media China Daily stated one student’s visa was cancelled on the spot for “concealing so-called military training” while the other was confronted in February with photos of university military training, otherwise known as junxun in Chinese, on his phone.
Immigration lawyer and agent Richard Wong says he will now be recommending clients disclose even student military training when applying for an Australian visa.
Junxun or 'military training' is compulsory for all Chinese university students but the term is misleading, says author Eric Fish. Source: Xu Peiqin/VCG via Getty Images
“After this case I would recommend that students prepare all the relevant information … to explain to the [Australian] government what kind of exercise or activities that have participated in,” Mr Wong said.
“This will protect themselves from unnecessary suspicion.”
Military training can be a bit 'misleading'
Junxun is compulsory for all Chinese university students and involves them wearing army fatigues and performing marching drills. For most universities, it does not usually involve any combat training.
China education expert at RMIT University Jing Qi says students’ fatigues could easily be confused with the official military uniform.
“Maybe there's a bit of intercultural misunderstanding here,” she said.
She says students undergo junxun as a reminder to maintain academic discipline as well as honour China’s military personnel.
Chinese first-year university students taking a break as they undergo a one-month military training. Source: AFP/AFP via Getty Images
Former China-based author of Chinese Millennials Eric Fish said he also believes it's likely Australia border guards mistook junxun for actual military service.
Who would be stupid enough to leave photos like that on their phone if they were actually a spy or coming for other nefarious purposes?
“If they rejected students from entry because of this, it's a gross misunderstanding of what junxun is," Mr Fish said.
There have been various forms of student military training going back into the Mao period, but the current iteration of it began to be piloted in 1985, Mr Fish’s book details.
Junxun is compulsory for all Chinese university students, but calling it “military training” is misleading, he says.
“It has some of the hallmarks … but they tend to do very little, if any, practical combat training,” he said.
First-year senior high school students attend military training. Source: Hong Xing/VCG via Getty Images
There are different forms of it at the high school and even primary school levels as well, however, the university junxun is the most famous and intensive, Mr Fish says.
It usually happens during orientation at the start of the year and there are around nine million first-year tertiary students annually in China.
“If asked on a form to disclose any military connections, I can't imagine it even occurring to most Chinese students to mention junxun. That they would be considered to have military affiliations because of this is laughable,” he said.
“If they're going to deport students for junxun, they'd have to deport nearly every Chinese citizen who's ever attended university in China, and probably even a lot of people who just attended high school or middle school there.”
The unknowns about the recent deportation cases
SBS Chinese cannot confirm what type of “military training” the deported students had undergone.
That’s because the Australian Border Force (ABF) does not comment on individual cases.
“If these words mean what we understand in English and it’s not just physical education, that's something more robust and it means you've got to have become a signed-up member of the armed forces,” national security expert John Blaxland said.
The professor of defence studies at the Australian National University said if that’s not declared, it raises all sorts of concerns, “particularly because the relationship with China has become so adversarial,” he said.
National security expert John Blaxland of Australia National University. Source: Supplied
Professor Blaxland said given the “real spike” in foreign interference cases and a recent Human Rights Watch report pointing to China as a significant perpetrator of this, it was not unreasonable for people with such profiles to be called out.
“In terms of risk assessments, there is a reasonable degree of caution that officials are not only entitled to but are expected to exercise,” he said.
Cancellation of Chinese visas are historically rare
The deportation of Chinese nationals from Australia is rare.
Except for a handful of visa cancellations in each of 2008, 2018 and 2020, Freedom of Information data shows there were no cancellations in the other years between 2007 and 2020.
Under Section 186 of the Customs Act 1901, ABF officers have the power to examine all goods at the border, including electronic documents and photos on mobile phones and other personal electronic devices, a spokesperson told SBS Chinese.
Freedom of Information data shows it's rare for visas of Chinese nationals in Australia to be cancelled. Source: AAP
Participating in compulsory military training will not in itself rule out the granting of an Australian visa.
The Department of Home Affairs is unable to provide details of how many visa applicants disclose their involvement in military training.
But every Australian visa application form asks the applicant to declare if they have ever undergone any military/paramilitary training, been trained in weapons/explosives or in the manufacture of chemical/biological products.
China takes diplomatic actions
SBS Chinese has spoken to many international Chinese students and associations based in Australia but all have refused to speak out about the political matter.
“It’s too sensitive and risky, given the fact that China and Australia’s relations have been bad for the last two years,” one student said.
Their non-responses follows a post by the Chinese embassy in Australia on their official WeChat social media account on Thursday warning Chinese students of “unprovoked interrogations” by ABF officers, who checked the phones and personal belongings of Chinese students in Australia.
China has lodged a 'solemn representation' with Australia after reports a Chinese student was searched upon landing in the country and then repatriated. Source: AAP
The post reminds students to be aware of safety issues and to notify issues to Chinese consular representatives who “will continue to support students studying abroad in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests”.
China’s Foreign Ministry responded to the events on Tuesday, saying they had lodged concerns with Canberra after the student was searched and repatriated.
China urges Australia to cease such actions, the ministry’s spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.
The bigger picture
Professor Blaxland says the deportation cases have occurred amid “fairly fraught” set of circumstances.
“This is not happening in a vacuum. This is not the only thing that's going on. In other circumstances you might have been given the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
There has been too many such instances where with the benefit of the doubt has been given and has been exploited.
Chinese authorities can choose to play up or play down depending on their mood and depending on what they seek to extract from Australia as a concession, according to Professor Blaxland.
“I think we have to be fairly hardnosed about assessing the motives for even raising this upon the Chinese authorities and we also need to remember that Australia has been at the sharp end for wolf warrior [aggressive] diplomacy for quite some time now and of the exercise of … quite punitive sanctions,” he said.
Impact on Chinese international student numbers
Dr Qi believes the recent deportation cases are not going to impact the number of Chinese students coming to Australia
“It seems Chinese student numbers are recovering,” she said.
Since the Government’s announcement at the end of November that the borders would re-open, up until March 27, more than 552,600 temporary visa holders have arrived in Australia including 132,800 students.
Of these arrivals, 16 per cent have been Chinese nationals.
International students arriving at Sydney Airport on December 6 under a pilot program to return international students to NSW. Source: AAP
The number of Chinese students in Australia peaked in Australia in 2019.
Department of Education, Skills and Employment data shows there has been a rising trend of Chinese students in Australia, with 211,965 before the pandemic hit.
In mid-2020, the Chinese Ministry of Education committed to continuing support for Chinese students to study abroad.
“Maybe [for] the international students, maybe it’s kind of at the back of their mind. They may be cognisant of the political tensions between the two countries, just like in this case,” said Dr Qi.
“They’re bearing the brunt of political tensions. Actually, a lot of Chinese students have selected universities in the UK In the last year or so.”
