The last two reporters working in China for Australian media have flown home after a five-day diplomatic standoff.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review’s Mike Smith landed in Sydney on Tuesday.
Chinese authorities questioned both men before their departure. The ABC reported Birtles was “not asked about his reporting or conduct in China”.
Relations between Australia and China have deteriorated in recent years.
There had been allegations of Chinese interference in Australian society in the past, but ties worsened after Canberra backed an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said on Monday a record 17 foreign journalists were expelled from the country in the first half of 2020.
Australian Foreign Minister (AFR) Marise Payne said consular officials had assisted the pair in returning home.
“I also want to note that Australia is of course a strong supporter of media freedom, freedom of the press, and that it is disappointing that after many years, Australia will not have a media organisation present in China for some period of time,” she added in a statement on Tuesday.
The AFR reported that Chinese authorities had questioned the journalists about Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist for Chinese state media who has been detained since last month.
In their first comments on the detention, the Chinese foreign ministry said she was being held on “national security grounds”.
What happened to the pair?
The ABC reported that Australian diplomats advised Mr Birtles and ABC management last week that he should leave China. He was then booked on a flight due to leave Beijing last Thursday.
But the situation escalated last Wednesday at midnight when seven Chinese police officers visited the reporter’s apartment as he held farewell drinks with friends, the ABC reported.
The officers told Mr Birtles he could not leave the country and would later be questioned over a “national security case”, the report said.
He immediately contacted Australian consular officials, who collected him and took him to the Australian embassy, where he spent the next four days.
During that time, he was interviewed by Chinese police in the presence of Australia’s ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher.
Mr Smith, who is based in Shanghai, also received a visit by police – prompting him to go to the Australian consulate there. Both men were questioned over Ms Lei, the AFR reported.
They were allowed to leave the country in exchange for agreeing to be interviewed by police.
What’s been the reaction?
“It’s very disappointing to have to leave under those circumstances,” Mr Birtles said in Sydney.
“It’s a relief to be back in the country with genuine rule of law. But this was a whirlwind and it’s not a particularly good experience.”
The AFR’s editors, Michael Stutchbury and Paul Bailey, said they were glad both journalists were safe.
This incident targeting two journalists, who were going about their normal reporting duties, is both regrettable and disturbing and is not in the interests of a co-operative relationship between Australia and China,” they said in a joint statement.
Source:Fiilafmonline/BBC
