China’s ministry urges students to consider whether to study in Australia, as rows continue

The Education Ministry has urged Chinese students going overseas to study to think carefully before choosing Australia, after a spate of reported racial incidents targeting Asians.

Tuesday’s warning comes days after China’s Culture and Tourism Ministry advised citizens against traveling to Australia “due to racial discrimination and violence” stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, which first emerged in China in late 2019.

In the statement, the Education Ministry reminded “overseas students to conduct a good risk assessment and be cautious about choosing to go to Australia or return to Australia to study.”

Relations between Australia and China have become strained in the wake of the pandemic as Australia has proposed an international inquiry into how the Covid-19 outbreak in China became a global pandemic. It has also spoken out over China’s proposed national security laws for Hong Kong.