China Threatens Australian Journalists With Detention Amid Deteriorating Relationship

Amid rising tensions for press freedom and international relations in China, two Australian news agencies have removed their journalists from the country during a diplomatic standoff.

On Tuesday, Bill Birtles from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Mike Smith from the Australian Financial Review (AFR) arrived back in Sydney.

Fleeing China

According to the BBC, Chinese officials questioned the two men before they departed from their home country. The ABC said that authorities did not ask Birtles about his reporting operations or conduct in China.

In recent years, the relationship between Australia and China has continued to deteriorate. Australian Prime Minister Marise Payne stated that consular officials provided support for the journalists to return home safely.

On Tuesday, Payne said that the Australian Embassy in Beijing and the consulate-general in Shanghai have met with Chinese authorities to discuss the two men's safe departure.

The AFR revealed that Chinese authorities asked the journalists about an individual named Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist who is employed with the Chinese state media, kept in detention since August.

AFR's editor-in-chief, Michael Stutchbury, and editor Paul Bailey released a joint statement that called China's actions regrettable and disturbing. They also shared their thoughts on Smith's safe return, who has been stationed in Shanghai for the last two and a half years, and ABC's Birtles, as reported by The Guardian.

The Australian officials said that the incident with the two journalists, who were simply conducting their professions and reporting news, reveal the deteriorating relationship between Australia and China.

Several reports revealed that Australian diplomats in Beijing previously warned Birtles to leave China last week. Two days later, the diplomats re-issued their warnings, which resulted in ABC preparing a scheduled flight for Thursday.

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Questioned for national security

However, ABC noted that before Birtles was able to depart, police officers visited his apartment on Wednesday while holding a farewell drinking party. Allegedly, authorities told him that he was banned from going out of the country and that he would be questioned about a national security case.

Birtles requested assistance from the Australian Embassy in Beijing and hid inside the agency but later continued with the interview accompanied by Graham Fletcher, the Australian ambassador to China. Chinese authorities to let the journalist leave the country if he agreed to be questioned.

According to 9News, Birtles and Smith arrived in Sydney this morning after a grueling week in China and the potential threat of being detained. The support of high-level diplomatic negotiations was able to safely get the two men out of the country and remove the risk of being taken into custody.

At the Sydney airport, Birtles said that the incident was very disappointing and said he was glad to have finally gotten back to his home country that follows a genuine rule of law while calling his experience in China a "whirlwind."

Chris Uhlmann, a political editor for 9News, said that the AFR and ABC saw the unacceptable risk that their reporters faced in China and the possibility of arbitrary detention in Beijing's hands and responded accordingly.