They are coming in the thousands, instructed to obey strict military-like orders, while any disobedience will be met with harsh consequences.
No, they are not China's Red Army. They are over 10,000 Australian-Chinese whom organisers of pro-China demonstrations hope to mobilise to Canberra on Thursday April 24 to "defend" the Olympic Torch.
"Obey orders, act collectively", instructs one internal document circulated among Australian Chinese student associations on April 7–8 and published on Crikey.com.
"When speaking to outsiders, firmly maintain that this is entirely a spontaneous activity. You must accept no media interviews in the name of any group or collective."
Based on the information posted on China's largest blog (blog.sina.com.cn), The Epoch Times understands that more than 60 luxury coaches will take Chinese people from Sydney to Canberra, with more than 100 cars from Melbourne and the "possibility" of a chartered plane from Adelaide. All travel expenses and food are provided for the participants.
Dissent stifled
Not all Chinese nationals, however, back the massive "support" operation.
"Chinese people don't have freedom of speech; all their opinions are from the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] education," said Mr Wu, former president of an Australian university's Chinese Student Association (CSA).
Mr Wu asked that his real name not be used out of fear that his dissenting views may bring harassment and threats to his family in China.
He says the Olympic fever has fuelled extreme nationalism "because in Chinese society we only have one voice and one thinking, so now the Government can use these feelings".
But for Wang Qianyuan from North Carolina, US, harassment became a reality after she crossed the fine line between the pro- and anti-China pickets.
During a Tibet demonstration, the 20-year-old student from Duke University painted "Save Tibet" in blue body paint on the bare back of one protest organiser, but did not join the demonstration herself.
According to the Washington Post, a video of Ms Wang at the demonstration was soon posted on the Internet, along with her personal information, national identification card number and her parents' address and phone number in China. Threats and intimidation followed immediately afterwards.
In another case of nationalistic extremism, Mr Zhou Fengsuo from San Francisco was violently attacked.
"They called us 'American dogs', 'animal' and pushed and beat us," said Mr Zhou Fengsuo, in a telling example of why few dissenting Chinese views are heard at these events.
Mr Zhou, a student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, attended the San Francisco torch relay wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Don't forget the Tiananmen Massacre" and a photo of arrested dissident Hu Jia.
Chinese Embassy pulling the strings
Organising bodies for the event in Canberra are understood to be funded by the Chinese Embassy and one of the main bodies, the Chinese Student Association (CSA), has been labelled a "front organisation" by numerous Chinese dissidents.
The CSA, Chinese-language web forums, along with Chinese state media reports, talk of meetings held between CSA presidents in Chinese Embassies and Consulate-Generals around the world. One meeting last year in Houston, US, was reported in the state publication China Scholars Abroad. Among the discussion topics was "suppressing the moving space of enemy forces". A similar meeting, described in Sydney University CSA's online forum, took place at the Sydney Chinese Consulate-General in 2004. One of the topics there was to "follow the leadership of the Chinese Consulate-General".
According to the web forum of the Australian Chinese Youth Association (ACYA), all human rights defenders in Canberra will be monitored and reported when the Olympics torch arrives on Thursday.
The ACYA website states: "All members will follow instructions to protect the Olympic torch." The Visual Recording Group will "record the words, pronouncements, provocations and malicious actions of Free Tibet campaigners" along with "all other useful material". Participants must present a photo ID and present their bags for inspection, and any "illegal banners" will be confiscated.
According to ACYA, participants will be divided into groups of five people, which will then be combined to form teams of 50. Each will have a principle and a deputy. They will report to the "commander-in-chief".
All have made comprehensive arrangements for Thursday's rally to outnumber and prevent disturbances from "rogue elements" – a blanket term used by the Chinese regime to label any dissident groups, like Tibetans, Taiwanese or the Uyghur Muslim minority, to name a few.
China scholar Viola Chen says the Canberra event will be seen as a test for Chinese officials and their network here.
"The workers for the Chinese Government must be very careful. If something goes wrong, many Chinese officials will have problems – that's the reality for their career," Ms Chen told The Epoch Times. "It's a chance for them to show how skilfully they handle this…"
Propaganda stoking nationalism
Some blog entries on blog.sina.com.cn verge on the ridiculous in vilifying dissident groups with posts painting a hostile picture of global "terrorist" forces unifying to attack China. One post by a "Chinese Canberra resident" talks of an alliance between the "five poisonous groups" in China along with Vietnamese and Cambodian anti-government groups to "disrupt the sacred flame".
"Their demonstrators have planned to light cigarettes and toilet paper and to use fire extinguishers to put out of the flame," reads the post.
Others use a blanket term "Western media" to accuse media outlets in numerous Western countries of being unified in an effort to slander China.
It's a sentiment that can be sourced back to Chinese state media, filled with reports of unlikely collusion between unlikely "terrorists".
A mainland-backed paper in Hong Kong reported earlier this month that Tibetan and Uyghur forces were also collaborating with al-Qaeda to target the Olympic Games in August, Reuters reported. Similar claims have been made by Chinese officials.
An editorial in the People's Daily last Thursday April 17 spoke of "information terrorism" coming out of the West, one of many state media reports laying broad accusations against Western media for their coverage of the recent protests in Lhasa, Tibet.
"I don't understand the Chinese people who have lived in the West for so long," said Mr Wu. "They have the conditions, the Western education and the spirit of freedom. They have the chance to hear many different voices. But regarding the Olympics, I very rarely hear overseas Chinese people expressing different opinions."
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