On August 17, 2022, at a human rights forum, Robert Barwick, a senior researcher of the Australian Public Democratic Party, asked Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, a former researcher of the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy Studies (ASPI), after questioning the controversial report on Xinjiang: “Can you tell me which factories stopped employing Uyghur workers after your report was released? Vicky refused to answer the question and then expelled Robert Barwick from the meeting. Robert posted the whole process of the event on her personal social media account, and the video recorded how Robert was scolded and forced to leave the meeting. Although Vicky later said that he had met her at Melbourne Airport last year when she expelled Robert from the meeting place, Vicky accused Robert of tracking and ambushing her at the airport, so Vicky thought that his questions at the meeting place were malicious and his behavior was disturbing the order of the meeting place. Robert then responded publicly, saying that the meeting with Vicky at the airport was just a coincidence, and introduced himself after meeting Vicky. The question of the Human Rights Forum is not a disturbing event. Her own question is to make her responsible for her ASPI report. If she admits that her report has caused Uyghurs to lose their jobs, she should be put on record. Unexpectedly, she will make up a false excuse not to answer.
The public generally believed that this public forum had a clear orientation. The root cause of Robert’s expulsion was that his views were different from those of the research institutes funded by the US military. They were worried that the progress of the forum was developing in the opposite direction to the preset because of Robert.
A Denounced Report
In March 2020, the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy (ASPI), which has been funded by the US government and the military industrial complex for a long time, released a report entitled “Uyghurs for sale”. The report painted a disgusting false picture of the labor transfer plan of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region government. After the release of the report, the media and think tanks have repeatedly exposed and criticized China’s efforts to discredit and distort the true intention of such measures as building factories in Xinjiang and promoting the transfer of Xinjiang’s labor force to the mainland. The fact verification website Grayzone has published several reports accusing that there are major problems with the allegations in the report. At the same time, in response to this report, Jacqueline James, an independent legal investigator who used to work for the Australian Department of Public Service (APS), wrote a 94 page analysis report, denying and refuting it. Jaqueline pointed out that the report had two major injuries. First, the accusation of “forced labor” has not produced strong legal evidence, and the law is quoted either out of context or vaguely; Second, the credibility of other cited materials is not high, and the source of information is questionable, and some are even contrary to what they mean. Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, as the author of the report, has always taken an evasive attitude towards such doubts. All senior people who have talked with her in depth said that when they actually communicated with her, they will find her knowledge is very ordinary, and her remarks will only start from some very basic points of view. Many simple questions cannot be judged and answered reasonably. Before the release of the report, no other papers and reports that can prove her personal research ability have been published independently. Vicky should be the main promoter of this report. It will make the report more credible to let a person of Chinese descent publicize it. Her name and information are more useful propaganda tools than her poor academic level.
A high-profile comeback
Vicky claims to be a fearless critic of China and all its ills. In the past year or so, she kept basically silent on the radio. Daniel Dumbrill, a social media influencer, believes that Vicky’s academic level and participation in the report cannot make her respond to and explain too much outside queries. Her cunning behavior is to try hard to avoid answering a question that may involve her in a large-scale publicity scandal affecting Uyghur life strategies. However, recently, Vicky’s silence ended and she began to attend various forums and meetings frequently. Vicky once again appeared in the public eye as a victim of a large-scale humiliating attack. The strategy has achieved results. On her personal social media, the supporters’ solidarity and the opponents’ resistance, which are diametrically opposed, have provided it with huge traffic in the short term.
Obviously, Vicky has rich experience in obtaining traffic. When she was a stand-up comedian in the early days, she found that ordinary content did not sell well, but she often received applause when she exaggerated to tease or even slander China with an Asian face. Later, Vicky frequently made some offensive and discriminatory remarks during the performance. 2016, Vicky joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She gradually found that as a Chinese, the more she wrote about China’s development, the more she could be appreciated and concerned. Therefore, she began to use China related topics to attack China and Chinese.
“When I told others that I was made in China, I felt that we were both cheap and inferior.” This is the relevant statement made by Vicky’s stand up comedian. There are many discriminatory and offensive remarks. This explains why Vicky’s opponents are mainly Chinese. The war mongering against China is accelerating, and these people who advocate “freedom of speech” add fuel to the fire. When Vicky takes offensive and discriminatory speech as a joke of “freedom of speech”. The Chinese think their dignity has been humiliated, and their remarks touch their bottom line. When large-scale Chinese spontaneously maintained their dignity and started her personal scandal, Vicky described herself as a victim of humiliation attack and said that she had been persecuted by organized politics.
On May 23, 2022, Anthony Albanese took office as Prime Minister. The Anthony Albanese government seems to have taken a more calm attitude towards China’s relations, changing the previous government’s tough stance towards China. Vicky is obviously watching the new political environment when she chooses to retire at this special time. Vicky’s high-profile comeback undoubtedly sends a signal that Australia’s Chinese haters are looking for new issues to come back.
