An Asian Australian council candidate has been targeted with racial abuse.
According to ABC, election posters supporting Australian candidate Yongbei Tang have been graffitied with racial slurs.
Tang is the leader of the political party Tasmanian Greens. She is currently running in a local election in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania.
Born in China, Tang has been an Australian citizen and Tasmanian local for almost 20 years. She has recently been refuting opponent’s claims that she has a connection with China’s Communist Party.
Tang recently stepped down from being the vice-chair of the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China (ACPPRC) – a group regarded as an arm of the Chinese Communist Party.
“I am very grateful for the chance to be an Australian citizen, my children have grown up here and I appreciate Australian values,” Tang said in September. “I just want to give back. I am not a member of the Chinese Communist Party. I’m a good Australian citizen.”
In New Town, a suburb in Hobart, Tang’s election campaign posters were vandalised with racist graffiti.
“My campaign poster located in New Town was vandalised with a racist slur,” Tang said. “I feel very disgusted, sad and ashamed.”
“I believe that most Tasmanians are kind and welcoming people to our diverse country,” she continued. “So, I’d like acknowledge it’s not the majority of Tasmanians but a select few who have these racist thoughts.”
Earlier this year Sydney mayor Jerome Laxale spoke up against racist posters that target Asian communities in Australia.
