Australians of a nervous disposition should probably avoid reading the Chinese press and social media at the moment. A combination of tensions over the South China Sea and the Olympics has made Australia the target of wild invective by Chinese nationalists.
The current problem started with last month’s adverse ruling by an international tribunal on China’s claim to most of the South China Sea. Along with the US and Japan, Australia called on China to respect the verdict. The reaction in Beijing was furious. The Global Times, a nationalist newspaper that is a subsidiary of the Communist party’s People’s Daily, accused Australia of a “delirious” reaction to the ruling and added: “China must take revenge . . . If Australia steps into the South China Sea waters, it will be an ideal target to warn and strike.”
Even the Olympic swimming pool has become disputed water. When Mack Horton, an Australian swimmer, accused a Chinese rival, Sun Yang, of being a “drug cheat”, the media in China lit up with abuse aimed at the “racist” and “uncivilised” Australians.