After a recent discussion on the Ukraine-Russia war became heated and even "abusive" in her WhatsApp group for church members, Susie Su was forced to put a ban on the topic.
The 69-year-old Taiwanese Australian, who helps to manage the social media group comprising some 50 Chinese Christians in New South Wales, said she wanted to maintain peace after realising the debate was dividing her community.
With members hailing from mainland China, Malaysia and Hong Kong, the community always had robust conversations but it was the first time she had to intervene since the group was created two years ago.
Ms Su said that last month, a minister from a church was accused of advocating pro-Russia views after he said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should surrender to Russia to protect civilians in the war-torn country.
Many Ukraine supporters in the chatroom argued that Russia's invasion had caused the deaths of those civilians.
"I believe as Christian we should be against the invasion, and pursue democracy and freedom."
But when the church minister was verbally abused by another member, Ms Su halted the discussion.
Ms Su said she found many people who were expressing pro-Russia views had been influenced by articles on Chinese social media, and some echoed language from Beijing.
China has attempted to cast itself as a neutral party and refused to condemn Russia's action or call it an invasion.
Last month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian blamed NATO for pushing Russia-Ukraine tensions to "breaking point", while Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said the root cause of the crisis lay in the Cold War mentality of the West.
Ms Su said she had a lot of sympathy for Ukrainians and she believed China should support Ukraine as much as possible without directly intervening in the war.
As Russia's invasion has continued, the ABC has witnessed heated discussions on several Chinese social media platforms that are popular among Chinese-speaking communities in Australia.
Several Chinese Australians have told the ABC they feel frustrated seeing friends, colleagues and even family members arguing about the war on social media.
Exposing China's propaganda
Yang Han, a Sydney-based former Chinese diplomat and political commentator, was shocked when he saw pro-Russia comments piling up in a WeChat group where hundreds of Chinese Australians shared information about the pandemic.
Since the war broke out in February, the chatroom has instead been dominated by Chinese news articles and discussions about the war.
He said he decided to translate some of the pro-Russia comments and articles shared in the WeChat group into English and post them on his Twitter account to highlight how some of the propaganda from Beijing was influencing Chinese Australian migrants.
After a member from the WeChat room discovered the translations, he was removed from the group and then singled out by China's state-run media.
China's nationalist tabloid Global Times accused Mr Yang of being a paid agent of anti-China organisations with a goal of plotting a "colour revolution".
Mr Yang rejected the claim and said he was concerned China's censorship might influence the Australian community.
"The group members are Australians," he said, adding their opinions could affect politics in Australia.
Mr Yang said the Chinese state media articles were fuelling frustration during discussions among family and friends.
Some Australians of Chinese descent told the ABC that polarised views on the war had often led to unpleasant conversations between husbands and wives, parents and children, and colleagues at work.
Mr Yang said his relatives in China avoided talking about the Ukraine war with him on WeChat because it was a sensitive topic that could damage their relationship.
Chinese Australians have diverse opinions
David Goodman, director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said Chinese-speaking communities had different values and backgrounds.
He said supporting Russia was "a logical nationalist position in China", given that Beijing declared in February its partnership with Moscow had "no limits" and "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
Feng Chongyi, an associate professor in Chinese studies at the University of Technology Sydney and a democracy activist, said the views within Chinese-speaking communities in Australia were very diverse because people had different ideologies.
He said some Chinese Australians with pro-Russian views could also be influenced by anti-America propaganda and censorship of anti-Russia content on popular social media platforms.
Earlier this year, Jin Xing, China's first openly transgender dancer, who has more than 13 million fans on China's Twitter-like social media platform Weibo, called the Russian President "a crazy man". Soon after, her post was deleted and her account was suspended.
