Chinese students 'at risk' in Australia

'Asian dog': Train assault taunt

Chinese officials and media outlets say Australia is no longer safe for international students.

The Consular and popular outrage in China has stemmed from an alleged violent Sydney train assault that occurred earlier this week involving two Chinese students.

Six people, aged between 14 and 18, have been charged with a range of robbery and assault offences after an incident is said to have taken place between Central and Rockdale stations at around 12.30am on Monday morning.

A Chinese student currently undertaking a Masters degree at the University of Technology took to the social media site Weibo claiming he and his friend had been victims of a brutal attack that included racial taunts.

"They were calling us Asian dogs and pussies while they were beating us. When my friend tried to wipe blood from his nose, a teenaged girl stuffed my friend's mouth with her tampon removed from her pants."

Another woman passenger, who was also targeted by the thieves, allegedly told the attackers to "rob them, they are Asian and they have got money." the blog post reportedly read.

Speaking exclusively to 7News, assault victim Alex Huang described his experience, "My nose, the bone here is broken, my cheekbone here is broken, my jaw, the muscle here is so painful I couldn't open my mouth properly,"

"After we give them the money they still punch us."

"And don't let us go." Huang told 7News.

According to media reports the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney has since alerted visiting citizens to avoid unnecessary travel after dark on its website.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese Central Television viewers have been reportedly told of rising youth crime in Australia that is posing a threat to Chinese international students.

"Once upon a time, Australia had one of the lowest crime rates in the world and was considered one of the safest places to study. However, the safety of overseas students studying here is under threat from escalating youth crime," CCTV is said to have reported.

The report relayed information about Sydney’s recent spate of shootings of which some teens have been arrested.

"One of the headline comments has been that Sydney is a very unsafe place to be, for Chinese nationals." Joel Wing-Lun from the Australia-China Youth Council says.

It is understood that a rapidly growing petition is circulating within the student community, and there is consideration to rally.
Speaking to 7News of the alleged train assault, Arfa Noor from the Council for International Students says, "It is going to impact the image that we have as an international education sector, destination for international students."