2023-12-03 22:19:31
Minnie Chan, journalist specializing in defense and diplomacy issues for Hong Kong’s major English-language daily, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), is presumed missing while her friends and colleagues have not heard from her for almost a month.
She traveled from Hong Kong to Beijing at the end of October to cover the tenth defense forum « Xiangshan ». This international conference has been organized since 2006 by the Academy of Military Sciences of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIISS), a think tank bringing together former senior Chinese officers. His last published paper dates from November 2.
“It was supposed to be a very short trip, indicates to Monde a journalist from SCMP. We are all very worried at the newspaper, especially since management waited until the information was public to discuss it internally. With people working from home some days, it’s harder to notice when someone isn’t at their desk, but their immediate colleagues, especially their Beijing-based editors, must have noticed right away. continuation of the problem. »
Worry
The journalist, mother of two children, “became unreachable” for several weeks according to his friends, quoted by the Japanese agency Kyodo on Friday. “The Hong Kong Journalists Association is very concerned about Minnie Chan’s safety and calls on the South China Morning Post to know more “ the association said in a statement Friday. The spokesperson for Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also declared “extremely worried”. “In China it is becoming a habit for the police or secret services to arrest journalists and put pressure on families and employers not to make it known”declared to Monde Cédric Alviani, director of RSF’s Asia Pacific bureau in Taipei. “ I pray for Minnie Chan, my friend and former colleague at SCMP,” the newspaper’s former editor-in-chief, Wang Xiangwei, wrote on the social network
The South China Morning Post has for the moment tried to reassure by responding to numerous requests for information. “Minnie Chan is in Beijing but needs time to sort out a personal matter. Her family told us she was safe but asked that we respect her privacy,” indicated a press release from the newspaper sent to Agence France-Presse. THE SCMP also threatened legal action against the online news site Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) « given the speculative nature of the questions sent and fearing that [HKFP] does not draw conclusions not supported by the facts ».
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