Screenshot of Minnie Chan page at South China Morning Post's website
After traveling to Beijing in November for a security forum, journalist Minnie Chan has vanished. Tom Grundy, editor at the Hong Kong Free Press reports:
The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) 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.”
Tom Grundy. “South China Morning Post says ‘missing’ reporter is safe after press group raises alarm; threatens legal action.
She works for the South China Morning Post (SCMP), based in Hong Kong, which is owned by Alibaba, the e-commerce giant. The Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP), along with other publications raised the alarm about Chan possibly being disappeared by Chinese authorities. The paper responded to Grundy’s query about Chan:
“Her family has informed us that she is in Beijing but needs time to handle a private matter. Her family has told us she is safe but has requested that we respect her privacy. We are in contact with Minnie’s family and we have no further information to disclose,” the SCMP said in a statement to HKFP on Friday.
The SCMP also responded to the HKFP inquiry with a threat:
“Based on the speculative nature of the queries you have sent us, we are concerned that you may be rushing to conclusions not supported by facts. We trust you will be responsible and ethical in your reporting. We would respectfully like to point out that we reserve all rights to take legal action against any misreporting of this matter concerning the Post,” the statement – which had no name attached – said.
Apparently, SCMP has used legal threats in the past, e.g. against a former editor who claims SCMP killed his story about (forced) birth-control in Xinjiang. See this NextShark article.
At this moment we don’t know where Minnie Chan really is and why she might stop communicating through social media or with her friends. And what motivation does SCMP have for behaving this way? One would think that a newspaper would appreciate other publications for rallying for their missing journalist.
Is it pressure from the Chinazis on the paper or on Alibaba? How much are the Chinazis embedded in these organizations?
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