State media warns Chinese tourism will come to a halt and that will be the ‘tip of the iceberg’ 

Chinese media has blasted Australians for their racism and unfriendly attitude and is urging people not to travel down under.

The Global Times, run by the governing Chinese Communist Party, lashed out in an editorial on Sunday about Australia’s rejection of a travel alert issued by Beijing which warned that there had been a ‘significant increase’ in racism against Asian people.

Angered that both Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham had slammed the travel warning as having ‘no basis in fact’, the Global Times threatened to prevent Chinese people travelling to Australia.

‘Empty political rhetoric by Australian politicians would not be enough to improve the current stalemate in bilateral relations,’ the editorial said.

‘If Australia wants to retain the gain from its economic ties with China, it must make a real change to its current stance on China, or it will completely lose the benefits of Chinese consumers.

‘The tourism loss may be just a tip of iceberg.’

Chinese media has blasted Australians for their racism and unfriendly attitude and is urging people not to travel down under

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a statement on Friday warning citizens not to travel to Australia as 'Asian people' were being targeted with racial discrimination and violence

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a statement on Friday warning citizens not to travel to Australia as ‘Asian people’ were being targeted with racial discrimination and violence

The editorial labelled the Australian government’s denial of increased racist incidents as ‘feeble’, and included that denial in a perceived sequence of anti-China measures.

 ‘It is Australia’s unfriendly attitude, not the travel alert, that may really scare away Chinese tourists and students,’ the Global Times editorial read.

‘From its push for a US-led inquiry into COVID-19 to its interference in the Hong Kong affair and the upcoming overhaul of its foreign investment rules that are expected to tighten scrutiny over foreign investment, Australian politicians are demonstrating their antipathy toward China.’

 ‘Australian politicians have always readily launched attacks against China even when they know clearly that their assertions are unjustified, because they are too easily swayed by US political attitude and too eager to win US favors.’

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a travel warning on Friday which said: ‘Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asian people in Australia have seen a significant increase.

‘The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to enhance their safety awareness and do not travel to Australia.’   

The Global Times editorial cited data from Tourism Research Australia, saying 1.3 million Chinese visited Australia in the year to the end of September 2019.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement on Friday that 'Asian people' were being targeted with racial discrimination and violence (pictured, Chinese president Xi Jinping)

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement on Friday that ‘Asian people’ were being targeted with racial discrimination and violence (pictured, Chinese president Xi Jinping)

It said spending by those travelers rose to $12.3 billion, representing over 27 per cent of all spending by foreign visitors to Australia during that period. 

Racist incidents have made headlines in Australian media over recent months, since the onset of COVID-19, which originated in China.

An irate woman screamed racist abuse at Telstra workers and told them to ‘go back to China’ after they asked her questions to ensure coronavirus safety in April.

Another commuter was filmed hurling abuse at a train passenger, calling him a ‘disease carrying motherf**ker.’

 A Filipino family living in Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales north coast, was delivered a hate-filled letter telling them to leave the country.

‘Take your f**king disease with you, you un-Australian c**ts,’ the letter read. 

State media is claiming the coronavirus pandemic sparked an increase in racist attacks across the country involving Chinese-Australians or Asian-Australians

State media is claiming the coronavirus pandemic sparked an increase in racist attacks across the country involving Chinese-Australians or Asian-Australians

A Filipino family living in Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales north coast, was delivered a hate-filled letter telling them to leave the country

A Filipino family living in Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales north coast, was delivered a hate-filled letter telling them to leave the country 

 At the time, Prime Minister Scott Morrison publicly addressed the incidents.

‘It was the Chinese Australian community that actually protected Australia so early on in this virus outbreak around the world,’ he said.

‘Sure the virus started in Wuhan, in China, that’s what happened, that’s just a fact.

‘But that doesn’t mean that this was, it has any nationalistic, or or any other sort of characteristics to it.

‘That’s just where it started.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk