Two Australian correspondents in China have been rushed home because their safety would be at stake, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports Tuesday. The journalists were questioned by the Chinese Ministry of Security in the investigation of an Australian journalist who was arrested in China.
The journalists, Bill Birtles and Michael Smith, work in China for ABC and the respectively Australian Financial Review (AFR). They were both recently questioned individually by Chinese authorities and were not allowed to leave the country until they answered the questions.
Birtles and Smith fled to the Australian embassies in Beijing and Shanghai, while diplomats negotiated with local authorities. This meant that the two were allowed to leave China on Monday and arrived in the Australian city of Sydney on Tuesday.
Both journalists are said to be suspects in an investigation into television presenter Cheng Lei, an Australian citizen who works for the Chinese television channel China Global Television Network (CGTN). Cheng was arrested in China in early September, for reasons that are still unclear.
The relationship between Australia and China has been tense for some time, since Australia called for an independent international investigation into the source of the coronavirus in China.
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