CANBERRA, Australia: A former Australian correspondent in Beijing said Monday that he and his 14-year-old daughter were threatened with detention before they left China two years ago.
Matthew Carney said he had not revealed the 2018 incident until now because he had wanted to avoid negative consequences for Australian Broadcasting Corp.s operations in China.
Two weeks ago reporters for the state-funded ABC and The Australian Financial Review newspaper became the last two Australian journalists working for Australian media to leave China due to threats of detention.
Carney was the ABCs China bureau chief in 2018 when Australia passed laws outlawing covert foreign interference in domestic politics, which he said outraged China. Carney said the laws started three months of intimidation and all types of threats for him…