The European Union (EU) urged China to immediately release all journalists and citizens detained for their reporting activities after The detention by Beijing of Bloomberg News’ Chinese News assistant Haze Fan.
“We hope that the Chinese authorities will provide her with medical assistance when she needs it, promptly allow her to meet her lawyer of choice and communicate with her family,” an EU spokeswoman said in a statement.
Other Chinese journalists or citizens have disappeared, been detained or been harassed after reporting this year, the statement added. They include Novel Coronavirus outbreak coverage By Zhang Chin, Chen Chusi and Fang Bin.
“All those arrested and detained for reporting activities should be released immediately,” the statement said.
China said Mr Fan had been detained on “suspicion of endangering national security”. China’s Foreign Ministry earlier said her case was under investigation.
The News agency reported Dec. 11 that Van Joie was last in contact with her news editor at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 and then lost contact. Several security personnel in plain clothes were seen taking her out of the apartment where she lived.
In the four days since Ms. Fanroyi disappeared, Bloomberg has been asking the Chinese government and the Chinese embassy in Washington for information about her whereabouts. Bloomberg was confirmed by Chinese authorities on Thursday.
A Bloomberg spokesman said: “We are very concerned about her and have been actively engaged with the Chinese authorities to understand the situation. We will continue to support her as we learn more about the situation.”
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a statement on Friday that it was “very concerned” about the incident. ‘Stand by the Chinese employees who have made valuable contributions to foreign media organizations in China,’ the statement said, citing the ‘vital research and language support they provide to these foreign media organizations.’ Without their contributions, the work of foreign media in China would be very difficult.
The foreign Correspondents’ Club of China has demanded transparency from Chinese authorities over the detention of Mr Fan and said it would closely monitor developments in the case.
Under Chinese rules, Chinese citizens can only work as news assistants for foreign news organizations, rather than reporting independently. Mr. Fanroyi has worked for Bloomberg since 2017. Previously, she worked for U.S. business networks CNBC, CBS News, Al Jazeera, and Thomson Reuters.
China’s relations with western countries such as the U.S., Canada and Australia have deteriorated significantly in recent years, and tighter restrictions on foreign media in China have made reporting more difficult. China this year expelled more than a dozen foreign journalists from several U.S. media outlets working in the country.
In August, China’s state security authorities also detained Cheng Lei, a Chinese-Australian financial anchor for the state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN). Cheng is also accused of engaging in activities that “endanger China’s national security.”
In September, the Australian embassy helped two Australian journalists in China successfully flee the country. Australian broadcasting corporation (ABC) beijing-based journalist Bill botu (Bill Birtles) and Australian finance commentary newspaper (the Australian Financial Review, AFR) based in Shanghai (Michael Smith) reporter Michael Smith, in China after 120 hours for a “dramatic” hostage “diplomacy”, late to emergency evacuation on 7 September, China on September 8, back to Sydney. Before fleeing, they were harassed by China’s state Security police and barred from leaving the country.
Recent Comments