Tensions rise as China detains Oz TV presenter

Detention, based on ‘national security grounds’, comes amid tense escape of two other prominent Australian journalists

BEIJING/ SYDNEY/ TAIPEI: China said on Tuesday that it has detained a high-profile Australian journalist working for its state media on “national security grounds”.

Cheng Lei’s detention was a new blow to deteriorating relations between the two countries that have seen China warn its citizens of travelling to Australia and vice versa.

In the first comments on CGTN anchor Cheng Lei, held since August 14, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said authorities took “compulsory measures” against her on suspicion “of criminal activity endangering China’s national security”. “The case is still in the process of investigation in accordance with the law,” Zhao said, adding that her “legal rights and interests are all receiving full legal protection”.

Cheng - who conducted interviews with international CEOs for CGTN’s Global Business and BizTalk shows - has not been seen in public since being held, although Australian diplomats in Beijing were able to speak to her on August 27.

Earlier this year, Australia warned its citizens they faced the risk of arbitrary detention if they travelled to China.

Two Oz scribes flee China

Two high-profile Australian journalists fled China overnight, fearing they faced arrest as political “pawns” and the latest victims of Beijing’s targeted repression of foreign media.

Their exit came following days of secret diplomatic wrangling between Beijing and Canberra, whose relationship is already at the lowest point in decades.

Bill Birtles and Michael Smith had taken refuge at Australian diplomatic missions in China for several tense days until deals were eventually struck to allow their safe return home.

Landing at Sydney airport on Tuesday, Birtles - Beijing correspondent for public broadcaster ABC - expressed sadness after a “whirlwind” week of political “chess”.

Their ordeal began almost a week ago, when police carried out synchronised midnight raids on Birtles’s home in Beijing and Smith’s in Shanghai - where he was correspondent for the Australian Financial Review.

Both men were told they were part of an unnamed “national security” investigation, were barred from leaving the country and would face questioning. “I felt like I had become a pawn in some sort of diplomatic tussle,” said Birtles.

Fearful of interrogation and arbitrary arrest, they fled to their closest Australian diplomatic missions until agreeing to answer Ministry of State Security questions in return for safe passage home. The journalists flew out of Shanghai late on Monday accompanied by Australian diplomats.

‘Bullying’ and ‘hunting’

China announced an initiative on Tuesday to establish global standards on data security, saying it wanted to promote multilateralism in the area at a time when “individual countries” were “bullying” others and “hunting” companies.

The announcement, by state councillor Wang Yi, comes a month after the US said it was purging “untrusted” Chinese apps under a programme dubbed “Clean Network”.

Taiwan calls for alliance

Taiwan President Tsai Ing Wen called on Tuesday for an alliance of democracies to defend against “aggressive actions” and protect freedom, alluding to Chinese actions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait as major threats to regional stability.

Speaking in Taipei at a forum attended by top Taiwanese security officials and senior Western diplomats, Tsai said Taiwan stood at the forefront of defending democracy from “authoritarian aggression”.

While Taiwan is committed to boosting its defensive capabilities, maintaining regional peace and security needs collaborative efforts, she added.