A journalist reporting for one in all Hong Kong’s most important English-language newspapers has gone lacking since travelling to mainland China, in line with reviews.
Minnie Chan, a defence and diplomacy reporter with the South China Morning Put up (SCMP), has been unreachable since she travelled to Beijing to cowl a defence discussion board in October, Japan’s Kyodo Information reported, citing sources.
Household and mates of Ms Chan concern she might have been detained and positioned beneath investigation by the Chinese language authorities.
The Hong Kong Journalists Affiliation in a press release on Friday mentioned it was involved “about Minnie Chan’s security and is asking South China Morning Put up to study extra”. The affiliation urged kinfolk and mates to succeed in out with extra data.
The Alibaba-owner newspaper mentioned Ms Chan was at the moment “on private depart”.
“Her household has knowledgeable us that she is in Beijing however wants time to deal with a non-public matter,” SCMP instructed The Impartial in a press release. “Her household has instructed us she is secure however has requested that we respect her privateness. We’re involved with Minnie’s household and now we have no additional data to reveal.
“The security of our journalists in the middle of their skilled work is of the utmost significance to the South China Morning Put up. This has all the time been our precept. We’ll proceed to speak with Minnie’s household and supply all the required help they want. The Put up’s operations and information protection stay unaffected.”
The award-winning journalist was in mainland China to attend the three-day Xiangshan Discussion board on regional safety which ended on 31 October.
Ms Chan’s final information report, revealed on 1 November, mentioned China’s mediating function in Israel’s conflict on Hamas in Gaza. She has been working with the publication since 2005, in line with her bio on the web site, which claims she “has had a number of scoops regarding China’s army growth”.
She had beforehand written concerning the Chinese language army’s overhaul and the abrupt sacking of defence minister Li Shangfu.
She had up to now labored for the now-defunct Apple Each day newspaper, whose founder Jimmy Lai is going through nationwide safety prices, in line with Ms Chan’s LinkedIn profile.
Her most up-to-date Fb submit dated 11 November options footage of her on vacation, whereas on X she final shared an article on 20 October.
Certainly one of Ms Chan’s Fb mates instructed Al Jazeera that her WhatsApp account confirmed her as final on-line on 2 November and that her current exercise was “very unusual”.
Whereas Hong Kong enjoys higher press freedom as a particular administrative area, mainland China ranks 175th out of 180 nations on the World Press Freedom Index because it continues to “prolong its data management mannequin not solely inside its borders, but in addition past them”.
Beijing has additionally been tightening its grip on dissent and the free press in Hong Kong, nevertheless, forcing a minimum of three pro-democracy newspapers there to shut in recent times.
China can also be the world’s largest captor of journalists, with greater than 100 at the moment detained, in line with Reporters with out Borders.