Journalist Minnie Chan of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post missing after China trip, Japanese media reports
Hong Kong Free Press
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.
The award-winning journalist had attended the three-day Xiangshan Forum in Beijing – a regional security dialogue which ended on October 31.
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. Her 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.”
Washington’s Chinese Embassy told US-backed Voice of America that it had “no information” on the case.
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.
HKFP has contacted the Hong Kong Journalists Association for comment.
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