Australian Student Leader Faces Suspension for Anti-China Activism

By Kritika M Narula / June 5, 2020;

Photo: Instagram

Drew Pavlou, a 20-year old philosophy student at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia has been suspended from the university for two years for his on-campus anti-China activism supporting Hong Kong, Tibet, and East Turkistan. The ban on completing his degree came after a “kangaroo court” disciplinary hearing on May 20 that accused him of 11 cases of misconduct, detailed in a confidential 186-page document.

In July 2019, Pavlou was allegedly assaulted by counter-protestors in an ugly clash between pro-Hong Kong protestors and pro-Beijing students at a rally he had organised at the UQ. UQ’s involvement with China has come under scrutiny since around that time: the scrutiny has included the co-funding of courses by the Chinese government; UQ Vice-Chancellor Peter Høj’s previous role as a consultant to Hanban, the Beijing body behind the Confucius Institutes as well as the appointment of China’s Consul-General in Brisbane, Xu Jie, as an adjunct professor. A UQ statement also confirmed that fees from Chinese students make up about 20 per cent of their revenue.

While the university has maintained that the misconduct allegations had nothing to do with his anti-China rhetoric, Pavlou maintains that his public opposition to the UQ’s ties with the Confucius Institute, and his criticism of the Vice-Chancellor have led to his two-year suspension. Pavlou has appealed against the ruling, enabling him to continue his studies until the verdict is reached — and possibly graduate before a decision is made.

Chinese state media has gone on to further attack Pavlou. Chinese Communist Party-controlled tabloid Global Times cited anonymous celebrations in response to Pavlou’s suspension and called him an “anti-Chinese rioter.” Pavlou tweeted, “Chinese state media directed UQ to expel me, an Australian student, for protesting against the Chinese state. Then, UQ proceeded to expel me to protect their business interests – UQ relies on the Chinese market for 20 per cent of its income. Moral courage!”

In a recent development, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has also spoken out on the events, commenting that the mismanagement of the activist-student makes it seem like the UQ has decided to “bend the knee to Beijing.”