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Two Australian journalists were taken out of China overnight after Chinese police tried to question them, their employers said on Tuesday.
The withdrawal of Bill Birtles from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Financial Review correspondent Michael Smith came shortly after China detained a high-profile Australian journalist working for its state television network CGTN.
ABC said that Birtles, who was based in Beijing, and Smith, who worked from Shanghai, had taken refuge in Australian diplomatic offices for several days before they were allowed to leave the country.
The couple left Shanghai accompanied by Australian diplomats on Monday and arrived in Sydney early Tuesday.
The incident comes amid worsening diplomatic relations between the two governments and followed the arrest last month of Cheng Lei, an Australian who works as a business news anchor for CGTN.
The Chinese authorities have not given any reason for Chen’s arrest.
ABC said Australia’s Foreign Ministry warned Birtles last week that he should leave China, but the day before his scheduled departure Thursday, seven policemen visited his home at midnight and said he was prohibited from leaving.
Police said they wanted to question Birtles about a “national security case,” prompting him to take refuge in the embassy.
Birtles was questioned by Chinese police at the end of the week in the presence of Australian diplomats and the travel ban was lifted, ABC said.
The AFR said that Smith was also visited by police on the same night in Shanghai and that both men were questioned in connection with the case against Cheng.
“This incident targeting two journalists, who were fulfilling their normal reporting duties, is regrettable and disturbing and does not benefit a cooperative relationship between Australia and China,” said Financial Review Editor-in-Chief Michael Stutchbury and said the editor Paul Bailey in a statement.
Australia earlier this year warned its citizens that they faced the risk of arbitrary detention in China.
Ties began to sour between Australia and China, its largest trading partner, more than two years ago, when Australian authorities began to act against what was seen as increasing political interference and influence peddling from China in the country.
Beijing was particularly infuriated by Australia’s leading role in international calls earlier this year for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Since then, China has taken steps to curb key Australian imports and encouraged Chinese students and tourists to avoid the country.
Cheng is the second high-profile Australian citizen to be detained in Beijing after writer Yang Hengjun was arrested in January 2019 on suspicion of espionage.
dm / jah
