Two Australian journalists left China on the night of Monday 7 September to Tuesday 8 September, fearing they would be arrested, their employers announced on Tuesday.
Bill Birtles, Beijing correspondent for the ABC channel, and Michael Smith, Shanghai correspondent for the Australian Financial Review (AFR), took refuge for several days in diplomatic premises in their country, before leaving China on Sunday evening accompanied of Australian diplomats.
They arrived in Sydney on Tuesday morning, according to ABC.
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The hasty departures come after the arrest last month for undetermined reason of an Australian business journalist working for the Chinese state-run English channel CGTN, Cheng Lei.
This arrest greatly strained relations between Beijing and Canberra.
According to ABC, channel correspondent Bill Birtles was advised last week to leave the country by the Australian Foreign Office.
But shortly before his return to Australia, scheduled for last Thursday, seven Chinese police officers came to his home in the middle of the night and informed him that he was going to be questioned on a "
national security matter
" and that he was not. therefore had no right to leave the country.
After which the journalist took refuge in his embassy in Beijing.
Degraded relationships
Bill Birtles was subsequently questioned by Chinese police, in the presence of two Australian diplomats, and allowed to leave the country.
Michael Smith was also visited by police at his home the same night, AFR said, according to which the pressure on the two journalists was linked to the arrest of their colleague Cheng Lei last month.
Relations between Australia and China have deteriorated sharply over the past two years.
Canberra then decided to act against what was seen as Beijing's growing interference in the affairs of Australia.
Canberra also caused fury in Beijing a few months ago for its requests to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, first discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
China has since taken steps to reduce Australian imports and encouraged its students and tourists to avoid Australia.
