China: CFWIJ condemns the detention of Haze Fan over vague accusations

March 2, 2021, Beijing: Journalist Haze Fan was detained in December 2020 on suspicion of endangering national security. Haze was escorted from her apartment and currently remains in the custody of Chinese authorities. Fan is a Chinese citizen employed by an American publication house.

Haze Fan, who worked in Bloomberg News bureau in Beijing, was arrested by plain clothed officials on December 7, 2020. The company announced that Haze was missing four days later on December 11. And it took the Chinese authorities another six days to confirm her detention. The journalist has been taken into custody for reportedly working in anti-national interests. Bloomberg issued a statement regarding this matter in which their representative stated that, “We are very concerned for her, and have been actively speaking to Chinese authorities to better understand the situation. We are continuing to do everything we can to support her while we seek more information.”

Fan is not the only journalist with ties to a foreign country who has been detained by Chinese authorities on such murky grounds. Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist, too was detained and kept in custody before being formally arrested in February 2021. In fact, following the deteriorating ties with the United States, China expelled American journalists from The Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal in 2020. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is deeply concerned about the safety of journalists in China working for foreign publications. This pattern by the Chinese authorities to hold journalists in custody without formally arresting them, and cutting off their ties with the rest of the world is a blatant human rights violation. It is appalling that the glocal community is not more vocal about their disapproval of this behaviour. CFWIJ condemns the actions of the Chinese authorities in the strongest terms, and demands that Haze Fan be set free.