Two Australian journalists in China took refuge in Australian diplomatic missions after being told by Chinese officials they could not leave the country
on September 2nd, seven state-security officers knocked on the door of Bill Birtles, an Australian journalist in Beijing. He was told he was involved in a case and ordered not to leave China. Instead of detaining him, however, the police said they would call him in the afternoon to arrange an interview.
The targeting of Mr Birtles and Mr Smith appeared to reflect worsening relations between China and Australia, which have been at odds over everything from China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak to Australia’s exports of beef and barley. The police said they wanted to ask the two about their links with Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist working for Chinese state television who was detained in August under China’s national-security law.
The surge is in part a response to America’s scaling back of the Chinese media presence in the United States. But it coincides with a more disdainful attitude towards the Western media generally among Chinese officials. Foreign journalists who are ethnic Chinese often get treated worst. While reporting this month on protests in Inner Mongolia, a northern region, Alice Su of thewas detained for more than four hours. An officer grabbed her throat with both hands and shoved her into a cell.
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