Vicky Xu

Vicky Xu (born 1994 ), formerly known as Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, is a China-born Australian journalist and writer. She is best known for investigative work on human rights abuses in China. During and after college, she wrote for the New York Times from Beijing, Melbourne, and Sydney. In 2020, Xu authored the report, Uyghurs for Sale, stating many Uyghurs from Xinjiang had been moved to China proper for forced labour. This report was widely read and cited by media outlets, legislations and prosecutors in Australia, the US and Europe.

Xu regularly appears on Australian television and radio, primarily in her capacity as a China expert and commentator. In 2020 she debated with Xining Wang, China's then Deputy Head of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Australia on Australian national television, marking the first and only recorded live debate between a senior Chinese government representative and a PRC citizen. (Xu has since relinquished her Chinese citizenship.)

Around April 2021 the Chinese government launched an unprecedented campaign of transnational repression against Xu, which included the interrogation and detention of her close friend, rolling media coverage in the Chinese language accusing Xu of "treason", drug consumption, and promiscuity. Some articles referred to Xu as a "demon". During an Australian parliamentary hearing in 2023, Xu revealed that the campaign had cost her relationship with family and friends in China, and that the "sheer quantity" of threats and hate messages rendered her "powerless" for a period of time.

Although Vicky Xu's reporting has been praised by some for shedding light on critical human rights issues in China, it has also faced criticism for potential biases and lack of balanced perspective. Critics argue that her coverage sometimes emphasizes sensational aspects of stories without fully exploring the broader context or alternative viewpoints. There have also been concerns raised about the verifiability of some of her sources and the potential oversimplification of complex social and political dynamics in China.

Early life
Xu was born in Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province, China.

Education in China
Xu's high school is No. 3 Middle School of Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company(嘉峪关市酒钢三中). In 2012, Xu entered the Communication University of China in Beijing. In a gap year in 2014, Xu travelled to Perth, teaching Mandarin at a suburban high school. At this point she was a CCP supporter. However, she began to question her views on Chinese politics after watching former CNN correspondent Mike Chinoy's documentary about reporting on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

Study in Melbourne and Jerusalem
Abandoning her studies in Beijing, Xu became an undergraduate in Political Science at the University of Melbourne with an exchange semester at Harry S. Truman Research Institute. At this time, Xu was openly supportive of the CCP. However, after interviewing a Chinese dissident, Wu Lebao, for an assignment, Xu began to review her previous positions.

Career
After leaving China, Xu has worked as a journalist for Australian and US media, and performed stand-up comedy. More recently, she has served as a policy analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Journalist, comedian, analyst
During her studies, Xu wrote as a freelancer for The New York Times in Beijing and Sydney.

After her graduation in 2018, Xu worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), The New York Times and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Xu's reports have covered such topics as Australia–China relations, human rights abuses in China, and Australia's diaspora communities.

Parallel to a successful career in investigative journalism, Xu moonlighted as a stand-up comedian in Sydney, working alongside prominent groups such as The Chaser and appearing on skits produced by the national broadcaster ABC.

On a TV panel discussion in February 2020, Xu debated Wang Xining, the deputy head of China’s embassy in Australia over China's treatment of Uyghurs. In March, as the lead author on the report Uyghurs for Sale, Xu documented evidence showing that Chinese authorities were displacing Uyghur people from Xinjiang to other regions in China, then using them as forced labor, often to manufacture goods for global brands such as Adidas, Apple, BMW and Nike. The report became a basis for statements by US government agencies, along with European and Canadian universities, against Chinese mistreatment of ethnic and religious minorities. Xu has criticised the Australian government for not recognizing the Uyghur human rights crisis as genocide. She has also been critical of some China hawks, such as Sharri Markson for basing their views of China and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic on conspiracy theories.

Targeting and harassment
By 2019, Xu and her family were being actively harassed, with calls for her father, from whom she is now estranged, to be "punished" with exile on account of his daughter's views. When visiting her dying grandmother, she was warned not to return to China. In 2021, a four-part exposé about her private life was created.

In January 2021, Allen & Unwin announced plans to publish Xu's upcoming memoir, You're So Brave.

In April 2021, during a nation-wide smear campaign, the Chinese state media called her a traitor, a pawn controlled by the West, or a "female demon." Queries for her name turn up thousands of results, including videos claiming to reveal details of her dating life, calling her "promiscuous" and "drug infested". Internet users in China made death threats and called for her family to be tracked down. On an Australian news panel, Xu disclosed that harassment has extended beyond her, that: "people close to me who still live in China have been targeted by Chinese intelligence operatives. People close to me have been interrogated repeatedly and detained. They're paying a price for me to tell the truth here."

By 2024, Xu disclosed she had been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of persecution by the Chinese security apparatus; frequently being followed, and her home under Chinese surveillance. She was living in Taiwan, by which time she had reopened some social media accounts that she had closed after the previous trolling. She also has changed her name from Xu Xiuzhong (许秀中) to Xu Weiqi (许微其).

Vicky Xu also claims on X that she has been physically assaulted by the Australian police during a protest related to China in June 2024.

In July 2024, ABC news reported that Xu alleged that AFP officers had informed her of a foreign interference plot against her but instructed her to stay silent. Xu later posted a message from her AFP liaison officer stating that communication would cease, leading her to feel abandoned. Despite AFP's explanation that the officer was on long-term leave, Xu has not received new contact information and believes her earlier criticism of the police for assaulting her in June, had led to the cutoff. In contrast, Drew Pavlou, also a suspected target of a foreign interference operation, maintained his AFP contact despite speaking out. Xu expressed her anger publicly on X at being ignored, and criticized the AFP for not providing adequate protection.

Controversies
Some pro-China analysts speculate that since the improvement of Sino-Australian relationship under Anthony Albanese, the value of Vicky Xu as an "anti-China pawn" has significantly diminished within Australia, triggering her to resort to more "outrageous" remarks in public.