Canberra: The last two journalists working for the Australian media in China have both left the country after being summoned by the police for questioning. The Australian Government and the Australian Broadcasting Corp gave this information on Tuesday. According to ABC News, Bill Birtles of ABC and Michael Smith of Australian Financial Review have reached Sidney. Both left Shanghai on Monday night.
According to the news, both of them had taken shelter in the Australian Embassy premises for the last few days. The Chinese police had reached Brittles’ house last week and called him for questioning and said that he cannot leave the country. Australian and Chinese officials had negotiated and decided that the travel ban would be lifted after the Brits talked to the police. The journalists have returned at a time when Australia last week reported that Cheng Li, an Australian citizen and ‘CGTN’ anchor, had been taken into custody by the police.
