No amount of ‘China-maxxing’ from politicians will cut it when Chinese Australians don’t feel safe

This article appeared in Crikey on November 10 2026.

The fatal stabbing of food delivery driver Feng Jianming in Melbourne’s CBD last Friday evening has brought the issue of public safety and crime into sharp focus for many Chinese-Australian voters in Victoria. 

Feng’s death has all the elements of a tragic story about an ordinary working man caught in extraordinary circumstances. A 47-year-old Chinese national and father of two, Feng, who had been working in Australia for nine years, was trying to make a living and support his family and young children back in China. Unwilling to lose his meagre earnings, and facing the possible loss of his job and future income, police say he confronted a man who was tampering with his delivery bike. The confrontation turned deadly when the man allegedly pulled a knife and stabbed him. Feng’s fellow HungryPanda food delivery rider survived the attack, but was seriously injured.

The reaction to the news from Chinese Australians has been swift. Over the weekend, several public vigils and memorial gatherings were organised. Big sums of money were raised for Feng’s family. Floral tributes poured in at the scene of the alleged crime, and Chinese-language media outlets published extensive coverage, giving details of a statement of condolence and pledge of support from the Chinese embassy, open letters from Chinese-Australian community leaders, and a petition on change.org over HungryPanda’s contractual arrangements with its delivery riders.

Angry members of the Chinese-Australian community in Melbourne took to the streets, holding placards demanding “a safer Melbourne” and describing Melbourne as “a city of crime”. Some placards went further, claiming that Chinese Australians had become the targets of criminals. 

Feng’s death appears to have unleashed a potent mix of emotions: sympathy for the precarious working conditions faced by gig workers, anger over Hungry Panda’s employment arrangements and contractual policies, frustration with what many see as the Victorian government’s failure to take effective action against street violence, and a renewed sense of vulnerability among an ethnic minority that feels increasingly exposed to random acts of violent crime.

With Victoria’s state election looming, the tragedy could hardly have come at a more politically sensitive moment.

Following Feng’s death, Victorian Labor Premier Ben Carroll wasted little time in releasing another video on his WeChat channel. The clip showed him speaking on the phone to the Chinese Embassy, expressing his condolences to the victims and promising that justice would be served. Following Carroll’s video about the tragic incident, Labor’s John Mullahy, the current member for the key seat of Glen Waverley, released a video message which struck a similar note. It combined expressions of sympathy with assurances that action had already been taken, and promises that the government would do more.

By comparison, Liberal MP Richard Welch for Victoria’s North‑Eastern Metropolitan region in the Legislative Council, adopted a more understated approach in his message to Melbourne’s Chinese-Australian community. Rather than emphasising his party’s policy credentials, he appealed directly to people’s emotions, expressing his sympathy for a “poor man trying to make a living and support his family”. Without spelling out an explicit political message, he sought to implicitly reassure viewers that better days lay ahead for Melbourne residents, and that under a Coalition government crime would be brought under greater control.

Jacky Sun, the Liberal Party’s candidate challenging Mullahy for Glen Waverley, also released several video messages, pledging that his party would take a tougher stance on crime. Speaking at a vigil, he became visibly emotional: “Brother Feng was my former self. In him, I see the struggles and hardships of Chinese migrants. I want all of us to live in a safe place. Melbourne must do better, and the Liberal Party will take actions”. 

A recent survey of more than 1,000 Chinese Australians in Victoria found that as many as 75% of those surveyed were concerned about high crime rates and public safety. The survey was conducted by News24 columnist and newsreader Cheng Lei last month using WeChat for recruiting participants, and it seems to show that even before Feng’s death, public safety was already considered the number one election issue for Chinese Australians, even ahead of the cost of living (69%).

As is always the case, violence against an individual in a minority community has far wider implications for the whole community. Feng Jianming’s death has resonated far beyond the Chinese-Australian community in Victoria. This is because the incident touches on a set of shared social vulnerabilities and collective anxieties that transcend geographical boundaries.

For many Chinese Australians, particularly migrants and international students from China, food delivery work represents not only an important source of income but also the everyday struggles of making a living, navigating unfamiliar social environments and contributing to Australian society through often precarious employment. The incident therefore evokes a sense of vulnerability that many people can readily identify with, especially those who work in public spaces and face occupational risks while having limited employment and labour law protection.

Social media platforms further amplify these concerns by connecting people across cities and states, transforming individual grief and anger into collective expressions of solidarity, while also giving voice to anxieties about racism, social exclusion and whether the safety and contributions of migrant workers are adequately recognised. In this sense, the widespread reaction to Feng’s death is not merely a response to an isolated incident in Melbourne; it also reflects deeper questions about what it means to belong, to feel safe and to be recognised as an equal member of Australian society.

In recent weeks, Carroll has released a series of video messages on WeChat and RedNote aimed at Chinese-Australian voters, recounting his experience studying in China and his knowledge of Chinese culture. Similar social media campaigns have also been embraced by Paul Hamer and John Mullahy on the Labor side, and Jess Wilson and Richard Welch on the Liberal side, in a clear effort to appeal to Chinese-Australian voters in key seats. From reciting a Tang poem (Greens MP Aiv Puglielli) to demonstrating a Chinese idiom (Liberal upper house member Richard Welch), these acts of “China-maxxing” are designed to establish cultural affinity with Chinese-speaking voters.

But the alleged attack on Feng may have brought home a lesson these politicians should have realised earlier: that politicians’ familiarity with Chinese culture counts for little if people in Box Hill, Glen Waverley, Ashwood and Ringwood don’t feel safe. Above all, they want more than expressions of cultural affinity or China-friendly rhetoric; they want concrete action to tackle crime.