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Opinion | Australian journalists’ case a reminder of what can happen when you challenge China, and it doesn’t bode well
- Australian reporters have become pawns in a much bigger game after the Trump administration’s ill-advised decision to cut the number of Chinese reporters in the US gave darker elements in the Chinese system the upper hand in dealing with foreign journalists
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Much like the clandestine hostage dramas that played out in the Cold War, the story of the exfiltration of two Australian journalists from China last week is being fleshed only after the public has been presented with its resolution.
The first that the public knew of the week-long ordeal endured by Bill Birtles, of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Beijing, and Michael Smith, of the Australian Financial Review in Shanghai, was the photo of the relieved pair arriving at Sydney Airport on the morning of September 8.
The stand-off between Beijing and Canberra had started with midnight visits from state security to the reporters’ homes, followed by their flight to sanctuary with Australian diplomats, secret negotiations to allow them out of the country and finally their flight home.
There was still another plot twist to come. With outrage in Australia at the treatment of the journalists, the Chinese Foreign Ministry countered with the claim that Australian intelligence and police officers had raided the homes of Chinese journalists in June. The threat against the Australians, then, appeared to be tit-for-tat retaliation.
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China accuses Australia of ‘barbaric’ raids of journalists’ homes
China accuses Australia of ‘barbaric’ raids of journalists’ homes
If anyone needed any reminding, the events of the past week were a reminder that relations between China and Australia are continuing to spiral downwards and will not be easily and quickly repaired. For Australia, that puts billions of dollars of potential trade in peril, as Beijing begins to ramp up the use of economic levers to try to force political concessions out of Canberra.
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