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SYDNEY / BEIJING – The two remaining Australian journalists in China took refuge in diplomatic missions before rushing out of the country as tensions between the two nations deteriorated further.
In what Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne called “very disappointing,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Australian Financial Review pulled their respective China correspondents, Bill Birtles and Mike Smith, over concerns. about its safety, leaving Australia without a correspondent in China for the first time since the 1970s.
The Australian government became concerned about the couple early last week and warned its media that they should leave China. Then, around 12:30 a.m. last Thursday (September 3), Chinese security officers visited their homes and informed them that they were prohibited from leaving the country and that they would be questioned about a national security case.
Birtles, who is based in Beijing, then took refuge in the Australian embassy, while Smith, who is based in Shanghai, sought protection at the Australian consulate there. They both flew back to Australia on Monday night.
“It’s very disappointing to have to leave under those circumstances,” said Birtles after arriving in Sydney.
“It is a relief to be back in a country with genuine rule of law. But this was a whirlwind and not a particularly good experience.”
The reporters’ departure follows the arrest last month of Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei, host of the China Global Television Network. The Chinese authorities questioned Birtles and Smith before leaving and were asked about Ms. Cheng.
China said on Tuesday that Ms. Cheng was being detained for “national security reasons.”
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, did not provide details of the allegations, but said authorities took “mandatory action” against her on suspicion of “criminal activity that endangers China’s national security.”
Zhao said China welcomes foreign journalists and those who obey the law “need not … worry.”
When asked if the police had attacked only Australian journalists and if other Australians were involved in the investigations, he said: “China’s position has been very clearly expressed and there is no such situation as you mentioned.”
Mr. Birtles said that he knew Ms. Cheng but not very well. Mr. Smith said he had never spoken to her.
Speaking of his ordeal, Birtles said he was saddened to have become “a pawn in a much larger diplomatic tumult.”
“My departure is just part of a larger trend accelerated by Beijing’s growing search for a narrative exclusively on Communist Party terms,” he wrote on the ABC News website.
“It is a quest that will leave Australians, Chinese and the rest of the world less informed and less understanding.”
The incident marks a further decline in ties between Australia and its largest trading partner in recent years. Beijing has expressed anger at Canberra’s foreign interference laws and its recent call for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, both of which appeared to be targeting China. In retaliatory measures, China imposed tariffs and export bans on Australian products such as barley and some beef products, although Beijing insisted the measures were not politically motivated.
Payne said Tuesday that the government was concerned for the safety of Australian journalists in China after Cheng’s arrest. Officials encouraged Birtles and Smith to remain in diplomatic facilities while they negotiate for the couple to leave the country, he said.
“This is a very disappointing series of events, and I am also very disappointed that we have major media organizations disrupted in their ability to report on China,” she told 2GB Radio.
Payne said Australian officials have contacted Ms Cheng and are trying to find out the reasons for her arrest.
The Australian media closely follows events in China and has a strong tradition of providing in-depth coverage of its economic and political affairs. Several Australian correspondents are currently working from Australia after returning home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A former China correspondent for The Australian and Financial Times, Mr. Richard McGregor, now at the Lowy Institute, said the two journalists’ exits show “how bad the bilateral relationship is.” He told ABC Radio that the media environment for foreign correspondents has worsened and that Beijing was targeting journalists, not just from Australia.
The China Foreign Correspondents Club condemned Beijing’s “unprecedented harassment and intimidation” of the two Australian journalists. He said that 17 foreign journalists had been expelled from the country in the first half of 2020.
“Foreign journalists based in China … now face the threat of arbitrary detention for simply doing their job, and difficult circumstances that make staying in the country untenable,” he said in a statement.
The United States and China have been carrying out tit-for-tat attacks on each other’s foreign correspondents. Washington on Tuesday accused China of “threatening” and “harassing” foreign journalists after it refused to renew the press credentials of at least five journalists from four US media groups, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, China’s Global Times reported yesterday that the Australian intelligence agency recently raided the residences of Chinese journalists in Australia and interrogated them, citing unidentified sources.
The Global Times claimed that computers and smartphones were seized and journalists were warned not to report the incident. He also quoted anonymous experts as saying that “the incident exposed Australia’s hypocrisy in defending so-called ‘freedom of the press’.”
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