US media group Bloomberg said on Tuesday it had been unable to contact a Beijing staff member detained by Chinese security services in 2020, despite government claims she was released on bail six months ago.
Haze Fan, who worked at Bloomberg News’ Beijing bureau, was taken from her apartment by plainclothes officers in December 2020. She was charged six months later on suspicion of endangering national security.
The news organisation said it had been made aware at the weekend of a statement from the Chinese embassy in Washington that said Fan had been released in January, but that it had been unable to contact her.
According to the embassy statement, which was dated May 6, Fan remains under investigation and is awaiting trial.
Fan’s detention came at a historic low in US-China relations and her case highlights a broader crackdown by the administration of China’s president Xi Jinping against journalists that includes increased harassment and the expulsion of record numbers of foreign reporters.
John Micklethwait, Bloomberg’s editor in chief, said the organisation was “encouraged” to hear Fan was out on bail, adding: “We will continue to do everything possible to help her and her family.” Bloomberg did not immediately comment further.
The Chinese embassy statement appeared to be published in response to a Washington Post campaign for World Press Freedom Day in early May. It said Fan’s “legitimate rights and interests” had been fully protected and the case conducted according to law.
“Using it to vindicate a criminal suspect and interfere in China’s judicial sovereignty is an affront to the rule of law and a breach of press freedom itself,” the embassy said.
Fan, who is a Chinese citizen, began working for Bloomberg in 2017 and was previously with CNBC, CBS News, Al Jazeera and Thomson Reuters. Under Chinese law the country’s nationals are not allowed to perform full journalistic duties for foreign media.
Human rights groups and former diplomats have previously accused Beijing of “hostage diplomacy”, using arrests of foreign nationals for leverage in unrelated bilateral disputes.
Chinese authorities in 2020 detained Cheng Lei, an Australian national and state media television anchor. She was later accused of supplying state secrets overseas. A Chinese court in March deferred its verdict in her trial, hours after denying Canberra’s ambassador to Beijing entry to the hearing.
According to Reporters without Borders (RSF), an international non-governmental organisation, China ranks 175 out of 180 countries for press freedom.
“China is the world’s largest captor of journalists, with more than 120 currently detained,” RSF said in its latest global report.
