Hong Kong Journalist Feared Missing After Attending Beijing’s Security Forum

A copy (C) of the South China Morning Post is displayed at a newsstand in Hong Kong on Dec. 12, 2015, following its acquisition by Chinese Internet giant Alibaba of the English-language newspaper. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)

A reporter for the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post (SCMP) has been missing for over a month after attending a security forum in Beijing, sparking fears that Chinese authorities might have detained her.

Minnie Chan, a senior reporter covering defense and diplomacy in China, disappeared after traveling to Beijing to attend a three-day security forum on Oct. 29, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Dec. 1.

Her friends said they were worried that the award-winning reporter might have been detained by Chinese authorities, as they have been unable to contact her since, the CPJ stated.

“Reports about the disappearance of Hong Kong journalist Minnie Chan after a work trip to Beijing are extremely concerning, and Chinese authorities must immediately disclose her location and guarantee her safety,” Iris Hsu, CPJ’s China representative, said in a statement.

SCMP told Reuters that Ms. Chan is on “personal leave” and is currently in Beijing attending to “a private matter.” It added that Ms. Chan’s family assured of her safety but “requested that we respect her privacy.”

The newspaper said, “the safety of our journalists in the course of their professional work is of the utmost importance,” and that it would continue to communicate with Ms. Chan’s family and “provide all the necessary support they need.”

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Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said it was “deeply concerned” about Ms. Chan’s disappearance and is requesting more information from SCMP—which is owned by Chinese tech giant Alibaba.

Ms. Chan’s last article, published on SCMP on Nov. 1, pertained to a “Middle East discussion panel” at the Beijing forum concerning China’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director Cedric Alviani expressed “deep concern” about her disappearance, saying that “it has become a common practice for the Chinese regime to kidnap journalists and arbitrarily detain them for months in black jails.”

“We urge Beijing to immediately disclose her whereabouts and, in case she is detained, to proceed with her immediate release,” Mr. Alviani said in a statement.

Ms. Chan is believed to be the second reporter from a Hong Kong newspaper to go missing. Al Jazeera reported that another SCMP journalist disappeared for nine months in 2022 before returning and being moved to a “less politically sensitive” desk.

‘Second-Worst Jailer of Journalists’

The CPJ ranked China as “the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists” in its 2022 prison census, which documented those imprisoned on Dec. 1, 2022, with at least 43 journalists behind bars.

Peter Dahlin, the founder of Safeguard Defenders—a Pan-Asian human rights NGO—said that “China has had a system for disappearing people for up to half a year, incommunicado, at secret locations for quite some time.”

“It’s called ‘residential surveillance at a designated location’ or RSDL,” Mr. Dahlin stated in a commentary piece on July 21.

“It might sound innocuous, but it’s, in fact, feared far beyond being arrested and has been used en masse on rights defenders, local activists, and even celebrities such as Fan Bingbing,” he added.

Mr. Dahlin stated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was not satisfied with RSDL alone; it also constructed the “Liuzhi system,” which is administered by the CCP’s internal police.

“As it isn’t in any way, shape, or form part of the judicial system, the power over its targets is absolute,” he remarked.

“The body in question can’t be sued for torture or misconduct, and if authorities hold you longer than the supposed maximum of six months, there’s nowhere to go to make an appeal.

Mr. Dahlin said the Liuzhi system doesn’t only apply to Party members but also to “state functionaries, those working in government agencies, state-owned enterprises, hospitals, labor unions, schools, and contractors.”

Reuters contributed to this report.