Representatives of the Chinese Communist regime have applied pressure on two dancers from the Australian ballet to withdraw their participation in a Chinese New Year Gala which has been organised by an independent Chinese language TV station.
At a press conference held on Friday January 20 New Tang Dynasty TV's Richard Chen said that the dancers, Robert Curran and Lucinda Dunn, were told by CCP officials if they were to perform at the February 18 event at Sydney's State Theatre it would affect their chances of getting a visa to visit China.
Mr. Chen said he spoke to dancer Robert Curran who explained why he was pulling out of the gala.
"His [ballet] company will have a tour show in China in the next half year and that is a big business issue with China and he said if he came to the gala he would not get a visa and that it would also affect his colleagues," said the Mr. Chen.
 Robert Curran, here seen with ballerina Nicole Rhodes, was pressured to withdraw from the NTDTV Gala. (Patrick Riviere/Getty Images)
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An official from the Chinese consulate in Melbourne told an AAP reporter that that the dancers had been advised not to perform at the event hosted by the TV station.
NSW state Politician Dr. Gordon Moyes AC MLC told The Epoch Times he was concerned that Australians were being pressured to not perform in the gala. "It is an affront to every principle of democracy and freedom-loving people everywhere that the Chinese Government has stooped to this level to blackmail performing artists."
The Democrats' Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja has described the integrity of the Australian Ballet as "without question" and called on the Australian Government to investigate allegations that pressure came from Chinese consular officials.
"If it is true that Chinese officials have told Australian Ballet performers that participating in the celebrations would be at the expense of opportunities to travel to and perform in China, the Australian Government must raise this issue with China," Senator Stott Despoja said.
Former Chinese diplomat Mr. Chen Yonglin said that Chinese officials working from missions in Australia would be doing what they could to undermine the Gala. This included applying pressure on Australian governments and councils recently to "try to force them to not to attend the Chinese New Year gala hosted by the NTDTV."
NTDTV spokesperson Ms. Emmy Pfister showed The Epoch Times evidence of recent letters sent by Sydney's Chinese consulate to Australian governments and councils which defamed NTDTV and its Chinese New Year Gala.
An Australian politician who received one of the letters was state member of parliament, Mr. Ian Cohen of the NSW Greens, who said he was "disgusted" by its content.
"I think this is something that the Chinese government officials have done in the past in terms of pressuring communities, and I think that state and federal governments are impacted upon by this type of behaviour," said Mr. Cohen.
Mr. Chen Yonglin said that when New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) was established six years ago in the U.S. it caused "a big headache" for the Chinese Communist regime.
As an independent Chinese language media NTDTV it is said to promote human rights, traditional Chinese culture and reports on Chinese current affairs inside and outside of China. In 2003 the station is said to have broken the story of the SARS epidemic to the world three weeks before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) admitted to the outbreak. It is currently also reporting on the mass withdrawals from the CCP by Chinese citizens.
"All the democracy dissidents, all the Chinese Human rights activists all respect the NTD TV reports and find that it reports very objectively and very good… It is the hope of the Chinese people to have more issues happening in China being aired to let the world know [of them.]," said Mr. Chen Yonglin.
NTDTV has "reporters inside China who operate secretly, [and] it is because of these reports that they have saved a lot of human rights activist in China that includes Mr. Gao Zhisheng who has experienced two assassination attempts [recently]," he said.
NTDTV is a non-profit independent Chinese language television station funded by advertising and donations with programs broadcast through unlocked satellite channels covering North America, Asia, Europe and Australia said Mr. Richard Chen. It also now broadcasts directly into China.
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