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WITHtwo Australian correspondents in China fled the country for fear of arrest. Last Thursday, Bill Birtles and Mike Smith were visited by seven police officers each shortly after midnight, at almost the same time, the media they work for reported. Birtles is a correspondent for Australian television station ABC in Beijing. Smith works in Shanghai for the Australian Financial Review newspaper. Both journalists had been told to be questioned about a national security case and therefore were not allowed to leave the country. The correspondents then sought refuge in Australian diplomatic missions in Shanghai and Beijing for five days before flying to Sydney on Tuesday night.
According to the “Australian Financial Review”, journalists were informed that the interrogation was supposed to involve the case of Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was arrested in Beijing a good three weeks ago. It is not yet known what he is accused of. She is in an undisclosed location where, under Chinese law, she can be detained for up to six months without a warrant or charge. Cheng Lei worked as a presenter for Chinese state television, which has since removed her resume and shows from its website. It is not known whether Cheng’s arrest was related to her work at CCTV.
Risk of “arbitrary arrest”
According to the Australian Financial Review, Birtles and Smith were under consular protection before leaving China. In negotiations with the Chinese side, diplomats obtained assurances from Beijing that both men would be allowed to leave the country if they had previously undergone an hour-long interrogation by state security. The journalists had been told that they themselves were not charged in the case, but that they should testify as witnesses.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed that diplomats on the ground had provided consular support to the two journalists and negotiated with the Chinese authorities to allow the Australians to return home safely. She reiterated the travel warning issued by her ministry on July 7. It claims that Australians run the risk of being “arbitrarily arrested” in China.
Australian Financial Review journalist Michael Smith also left China for fear of arrest.
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Bild: AP
In Birtles’ case, there seemed to be early signs that his safety could be threatened. Broadcaster ABC reports that Australian diplomats asked him to leave the country early last week and also alerted his employer in Sydney. In view of the air traffic restriction due to the corona pandemic, this was apparently not immediately possible. In any case, his flight was scheduled for Thursday morning. A few hours earlier, seven policemen came to see him at his apartment. Smith, who experienced the same, said after landing in Sydney that the nightly police crackdowns were “intimidating and unnecessary” and showed “the pressure that all foreign journalists in China are currently under.”
In the case of journalist Cheng Lei, Foreign Minister Payne said that she would continue to receive consular support. “Due to the protection of privacy, we are unable to make further statements.” In Australia, it is feared that Cheng Lei could be used as a bargaining chip in the diplomatic dispute between Sydney and Beijing, as has been the case with two Canadians who have since done so. imprisoned in China for almost two years.
Tensions between Australia and China have risen since the Canberra government called for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic in China. Beijing responded by imposing punitive tariffs on Australian barley and announcing an investigation into alleged subsidies for Australian wines. The resentment between Australia and its biggest trading partner had already started in 2017, when Canberra passed laws against political interference targeting the activities of Chinese businessmen and associations with ties to Beijing. A year later, the Australian government was one of the first to exclude Chinese tech group Huawei from expanding the national 5G network. Canberra also restricts Chinese acquisitions by Australian companies.
Journalists in China are increasingly becoming Beijing’s plaything in disputes with their home countries. In recent days, the Chinese authorities have refused to extend the press accreditation of five US media employees. Only substitute documents have been issued to you, the validity of which can be revoked at any time. One of the concerned journalists told the “New York Times” that the State Department in Beijing had explicitly justified this with the pending extension of journalist visas for Chinese media workers in the United States. In May, US authorities limited the validity of Chinese journalists’ visas to 90 days and threatened to collect them on November 6. This, in turn, is a response to the expulsion of 17 US media correspondents by China in March. This also affected an Australian journalist for the New York Times.
After Birtles and Smith left the country, there is no longer an Australian media correspondent in China.
