South China Morning Post (SCMP) reporter Minnie Chan has gone missing after a work trip to China, Japan’s Kyodo News reported on Thursday citing unnamed people close to the matter. A local press group has expressed concern over the apparent disappearance.
See also: SCMP says ‘missing’ reporter is safe after press group raises alarm; threatens legal action
The award-winning journalist had attended the three-day Xiangshan Forum in Beijing – a regional security dialogue which ended on October 31.
Multiple calls and emails to the Alibaba-owned newspaper went unanswered on Friday. Staff at the paper, who did not wish to be identified, told HKFP that there has been no internal communication about Chan’s whereabouts or welfare.
According to Kyodo News, Chan’s friends were concerned she was under investigation by the Chinese authorities. SCMP told the paper that Chan was on leave. The journalist’s last post on Facebook was dated November 11.
According to her LinkedIn profile, the journalist previously worked for the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, whose founder Jimmy Lai faces national security charges. Chan joined the SCMP in 2005, and became a correspondent in 2019, having previously worked at Phoenix TV and the Economic Times.
The last story that appeared under her byline on the SCMP website was a November 1 article relating to China’s response to Israel’s war on Gaza. Her bio states that she has had “several scoops relating to China’s military development.”
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said in a Friday Chinese-language statement that it was “very concerned about Chan’s safety and is asking SCMP for information about the incident.”
Washington’s Chinese Embassy told US-backed Voice of America that it had “no information” on the case.
Detained journalists
In October, Australian journalist Cheng Lei was released after being detained for three years in China, where she worked for state-run English-language TV station CGTN. She was accused of “supplying state secrets overseas.” Last June, China released Bloomberg journalist Haze Fan after she was detained for over a year on suspicion of security law violations.
According to Reporters Without Borders, China is the “world’s largest prison for journalists,” with over 100 currently behind bars.
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