Australian scholar Clive Hamilton
BEIJING: China has barred entry to two “anti-China” Australian scholars, the Global Times newspaper said today, citing unnamed sources, amid heightened tension between Beijing and Canberra.
The paper, published by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, identified the two as Clive Hamilton and Alex Joske.
It added that the decision came after Australia revoked the visas of two Chinese scholars over “alleged infiltration” in early September.
The Australians could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ties have become strained over issues from trade disputes to Australia’s call for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus that first emerged in China late last year and accusations of Chinese meddling in domestic affairs.
In a 2018 book, Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in the Australian capital, accused China’s Communist Party of a campaign to exert influence in Australia’s domestic politics.
Joske is an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which the Global Times called “infamous for churning out anti-China propaganda and fabricating anti-China issues.”
