Australia whisks pair out of China

Journalists jailed in ‘coordinated move’ by Beijing

• Two Australian foreign correspondents were flown out of China for their safety, helped by Australian consular officials after being questioned by China’s state security ministry, the Australian government said on Tuesday.

The correspondents for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ( ABC) and the Australian Financial Review ( AFR) sought shelter in the embassy in Beijing and the consulate in Shanghai as diplomats negotiated with Chinese officials to allow them to leave the country, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.

Negotiations over the two journalists, the ABC’S Bill Birtles and the AFR’S Michael Smith, reached the highest level of the Australian government, a source told Reuters.

Chinese police entered the homes of the two men, who lived in Shanghai and Beijing, after midnight last Wednesday and told them they were barred from leaving China, Smith said.

“We were concerned it was a coordinated move. That indicates to us it was political. We were the only two journalists left in China working for Australian media,” Smith told Reuters.

“It very much felt like a diplomatic tussle in the broader Australia- China relationship,” Birtles told ABC television.

The Australian government had earlier warned the two men to leave China, as tension escalated over the detention of another Australian citizen, Chinese state television anchor Cheng Lei.

Cheng was detained on suspicion of criminal activities endangering national security, China’s foreign ministry said.

Police arrived before the men could catch flights booked for Thursday, however.

Both men stayed with Australian officials for five days until a resolution was reached in which the two agreed to be interviewed by Chinese security officials.

Australian consular officials later accompanied the two to Shanghai airport and to the gate.

“This incident targeting two journalists, who were going about their normal reporting duties, is both regrettable and disturbing,” the Australian Financial Review said in a statement.

Their departure leaves Australian media organizations with no correspondent in China for the first time since the 1970s.

On Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry said the questioning of the men was a normal enforcement of the law.

Australia has a tense diplomatic relationship with China, which worsened this year after Beijing vowed trade reprisals and said it was angered by Australia’s call for an international inquiry into the source of the coronavirus pandemic.

The incident comes as foreign journalists face greater difficulty in China.