Bloomberg reported Friday (11) that Chinese authorities have detained Haze Fan, an employee working for Bloomberg in Beijing, on charges of endangering national security. The report said Fan was last in contact with Bloomberg editors at 11:30 a.m. Monday (7), after which she was taken from her apartment by plainclothes security officers.
After Fan’s loss of contact, Bloomberg reportedly kept asking the Chinese government and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. about her whereabouts until Thursday (10), when it received firm news that Fan had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in activities that endangered national security. A spokesperson for Bloomberg said it is very concerned about the incident and has been actively talking with the Chinese government to better understand the situation, and will do its best to support the employee.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Association of China (FCA) issued a statement on Friday expressing concern over the detention of Van Zoy. The statement expressed solidarity with the Chinese employees who have made invaluable contributions to the work of foreign news agencies in China, saying that they provide vital research and language support to these foreign media outlets. Without their contributions, the work of foreign media in China would be extremely difficult.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Association in China has asked the Chinese Communist authorities to provide transparency in the detention of Fan Ruo Yi and has said it will closely monitor the progress of the case.
Reports say Fan Ruo Yi is a Chinese citizen who has worked at Bloomberg since 2017, after working for CNBC, CBS News, Al Jazeera and Reuters. According to Communist Party rules, Chinese citizens can only work as news assistants for foreign news organizations and are not allowed to report independently.
The report cited Chinese officials as saying that Fan was being detained at the Beijing State Security Bureau and that the case was still under further investigation, adding that Fan’s legal rights were fully protected and her family had been notified.
The incident comes in the same week that the U.S. recently announced sanctions against all 14 vice chairmen of the Communist Party’s People’s Congress, and it is unknown whether the two incidents are related.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have deteriorated significantly this year, making it more difficult for foreign media to work in China. The CCP has expelled more than a dozen foreign journalists working in the U.S. media this year.
In August, Chinese state security authorities also arrested Cheng Lei, an Australian citizen of Chinese descent who worked for China’s CCTV International. Cheng Lei was also charged with allegedly engaging in illegal activities that endangered China’s national security.
In September this year, Australian agencies in China helped two Australian journalists based in China to flee the country. The two Australian journalists were questioned and warned by the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of State Security before they fled.
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