In a few weeks, it will be one year since I returned to Beijing, ending China’s four-year black-listing of Australian media. I’m still the only Australian media correspondent here. Naturally, a lot of people ask: What has it been like? I’m also routinely asked: Why did they pick you? And more than a few people wonder: Why do it?
They’re all good questions. Back when I was living an easier life in Taipei, in the three years between my two stints in Beijing, I used to tell people no one should want to be the first Australian correspondent back in China. My view was the Chinese government would try to pressure that correspondent about their coverage – situation normal, to be honest, and something all good China correspondents deal with.
Trickier, I thought, would be managing the understandable suspicion among the audience in Australia. Most do not trust China, as Lowy Institute polling makes clear. It would be natural for them to be sceptical about the first correspondent Beijing approved.
I thought that would be someone else’s problem after my reporting from Taipei. Even just the decision to relocate there seemed as if it could be the end of any return. Oh well, I thought at the time, there’s a lot of world outside the People’s Republic.
My three years in Taiwan made me a much better China correspondent. I think it would be a terrific thing if all Beijing correspondents had lived experience in Taiwan.
But so long as you have your head screwed on and have read a lot about the country’s politics, economy and history, it seems pretty obvious to me that being able to report on China from China beats the alternative on many assignments.
That was clear when I got a short-term visa to cover the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, and again when I attended the Australia-China High Level Dialogue in 2023, also in Beijing. Even in those extremely limited trips, I could see the place was changing in my absence.
I sought advice from several current and former China correspondents, including New York Times chief China correspondent Chris Buckley, former Financial Times Beijing bureau chief Richard McGregor and the BBC’s Stephen McDonell, three of Australia’s greatest journalistic exports.
Throughout my time in Taiwan, I also kept in touch with the Chinese embassy in Australia. I would meet officials when I was in Canberra, perhaps once or twice a year. I would also liaise with them for all my requests for short-term visas, each of which required a green tick from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and, successful or not, a trip to the Chinese visa centre in Hong Kong.
Why did the Chinese pick me? I haven’t had the opportunity to read the file the Chinese government keeps on me, but I expect it notes something about my repeated efforts to get visas and the seriousness with which this masthead covers Australia’s place in the world. For a few years, I was the Australian journalist bugging them more than any other about short-term visas. Still, I was surprised when the offer of a long-term visa came through just before Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia last year.
It would never have happened without the improvement in the diplomatic relationship. While Beijing was refusing to talk to Canberra during the Morrison government, the risk for Australian correspondents in China was way too high for the reporting to justify.
To be clear, I do not blame Scott Morrison for that. Australia’s foreign policy needs to be set by the national interest. My safety concerns were not related to Australia but to China’s government, which has demonstrated a willingness to engage in hostage diplomacy. Read my friend Cheng Lei’s extraordinary book, A Memoir of Freedom, for more on that disturbing subject.
For now, The Australian’s assessment – which is informed by ongoing discussions with the Department of Foreign Affairs as well as my experiences on the ground – is that it is safe enough to justify my ongoing presence. If the relationship deteriorates again, I expect that assessment may change.
My family have not come with me, so I fly back to Australia every month to see them. It is exhausting but an excellent way to make sure I keep seeing China through Australian eyes.
There have been many times over the past 11 months when I have wondered if it has been worth it. The stress on my wife has been immense. It is awful to miss so much of my young son’s life.
The great Australian Sinologist Geremie Barme wrote a brilliant piece on the ethical dilemmas of dealing with Xi Jinping’s China. Along with Cheng Lei’s book, it should be prescribed reading for anyone in academia, business, government or journalism involved with China. Everyone should read Barme’s whole essay, but his last piece of advice is, “Be mindful of the lure of self-justification”. It is something that has nagged at me throughout my posting.
Ultimately, I think Australian media coverage of China can be improved by having correspondents based here, despite the formidable reporting challenges. Australia has specific issues with China, good, bad and in-between, that will only be covered by Australian reporters. China is too important to outsource to the wires. That said, this is a tough assignment. China is ranked by Reporters Without Borders as the world’s third-worst reporting environment.
I hope by the time an Australian prime minister next visits China there will be more than one Australian correspondent based here. Covering Anthony Albanese last week, I felt I had a huge advantage because I was not beholden to the PM’s itinerary. I had been to every part of the itinerary, without all the special treatment the Chinese put on for a visiting PM.
I have travelled widely across China, to 15 of its 22 provinces. I know how far removed the PM’s trip – confined as it was to wealthy pockets of three of China’s wealthiest cities and a VIP experience on the Great Wall – was from the lives most of China’s 1.4 billion people live. Sure, the most attractive part of Chengdu is gorgeous, especially at night. But next time the PM visits, he should hop on a fast rain and head to neighbouring Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces. I just spent the weekend there. It could almost be a different country.
So, yes, for now, I think it is worth being here. Across the masthead, from our news to business to opinion pages, readers of The Australian are getting the best coverage of China in Australian media. I think having a correspondent based here has added to that. But it is something that needs to be continually reassessed.
As Cheng Lei writes near the end of her incredible book: “Journalists are even now not fully secure when they go to China, just when more nuanced and balanced reporting is needed.” She’s right – and it remains the case even after our PM’s “very personal” lunch with Xi.
Will Glasgow is The Australian’s North Asia correspondent, currently based in Beijing. On Monday, July 28, he will be in conversation in Canberra with former DFAT head Dennis Richardson and former Australian ambassador to China Ric Smith to discuss Australia’s relationship with China at a charity event for Lifeline Canberra at the Kingston Hotel. Tickets are available at humanitix.com.
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