China slaps down DFAT travel warning ‘as long as you abide by law’

Beijing says Australians shouldn’t fear travelling to China as long as they abide by Chinese law.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: Getty Images

The Chinese Government has hit back at warnings by the Federal Government that Australians should be wary of travelling to China for fear of facing “arbitrary detention”.

“The Chinese government always protects the safety and legitimate rights and interests of foreign nationals in China,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said at the MFA press conference.

Mr Zhao rejected the Federal Government’s upgraded travel advice issued this week against travelling to China following the arrest in Beijing of Xu Zhangrun, a prominent critic of China’s President Xi with close ties to Australia and increasing political tensions between the two countries.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advice, which also warns Australians from travelling overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Australians should not travel to China as Beijing had detained foreigners for allegedly “endangering national security.”

The travel alert warns Australians who are already in China and are considering returning home to “do so as soon as possible by commercial means.”

Mr Zhao rejected the warning, saying that Australians should not fear travelling to China as long as they abided by Chinese law.

“There is no need to worry at all provided they abide by laws and regulations,” he said.

He said he hoped the Australian Government would “look at this in an objective and fair manner and do more to enhance China-Australia relations.”

The MFA comments come as the Federal Government also considers moves to fast track the resettlement of Hong Kong nationals in Australia which could be announced later today.

Moves by the Morrison Government to call for an inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus have also angered China which has seen the call by Foreign Minister Marise Payne as criticism of its handling of the crisis.

Ms Payne’s comments led to warnings from China’s Ambassador to Australian, Mr Cheng Jingye, that Chinese citizens could react to the call by boycotting Australian goods such as beef and wine and not travelling to Australia as students and tourists.

The Chinese Embassy in Canberra has also blasted ramped-up travel warnings to Australians of “arbitrary detentions” in the communist nation as “ridiculous” and “disinformation”.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy said on Wednesday that only people who break laws in China – like drug smugglers and spies – risk arrest and all other citizens are safe.

We have noted Australia’s updated travel advice regarding China, which asserts that Australians may be at risk of arbitrary detention. This is completely ridiculous and disinformation.

“Foreigners in China, including the Australians, as long as they abide by the Chinese laws, have no need to worry at all.

“However, those who engage in illegal activities, such as drug smuggling or espionage, will be dealt with according to the laws in China, as is the case in all other countries.”

China opens new security agency in Hong Kong

It came as China opened its new national security agency in Hong Kong, with hardliner Zheng Yanxiong taking the helm. The controversial national security agency has been set up under the legislation that empowers mainland security agents to operate inside Hong Kong openly for the first time, unbound by the city’s laws.

Mr Zheng rose through the ranks of the local government in southern Guangdong province which borders Hong Kong, to serve as secretary-general of the provincial Communist Party committee.

The 56-year-old is known as a hardliner who stamped out often-violent anti-corruption protests that erupted in Wukan, a village in the province, in 2011.

Xu Zhangrun was detained after the academic published an essay accusing the Chinese Communist Party of ­“ruling tyrannically” and failing in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The DFAT Smart Traveller advice, which cautions against overseas travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Australians should not travel to China as ­Beijing has detained foreigners for allegedly “endangering national security”.

The travel alert, published on Tuesday afternoon, says: “If you’re already in China and wish to return to Australia, we recommend you do so as soon as possible by commercial means.

“Authorities have detained foreigners because they’re ‘endangering national security’. ­Australians may also be at risk of arbitrary detention.”

As tensions flare between Beijing and Canberra over a series of clashes — headlined by Scott Morrison’s calls for a global inquiry into China’s handling of the pandemic — The Australian understands federal cabinet will finalise plans on Wednesday to provide a fast-track option for Hong Kong nationals to resettle in Australia.

Cabinet will meet to consider proposals from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Home Affairs, which were discussed by members of the national security committee of cabinet on Monday.

The government is expected to prioritise options for Hong Kong Chinese nationals currently in Australia through a capped skilled migrant visa program intake.

The Prime Minister’s pledge to “step up and provide support” to Hong Kong residents facing the threat of China’s security crackdown, in tandem with other ­nations including Britain and Canada, was rebuffed last week by Chinese officials, who warned Australia to not go down the “wrong path”.

In updated travel advice last week, DFAT advised the 100,000 Australians living in Hong Kong, and those planning on travelling to the former British colony, that Beijing’s new national security laws for Hong Kong could be interpreted “broadly”.

“You can break the law without intending to,” the advice said. “The maximum penalty under this law in Hong Kong is life imprisonment.”

DFAT said there was an increased possibility of demonstrations in Hong Kong because of the laws, which could turn into ­violent clashes.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already moved to provide paths to UK citizenship to up to three million Hong Kong British nationals who may flee.

Mr Morrison has confirmed he is looking at offering “similar opportunities” in Australia. “The Basic Law and safeguards that were put in place with the handover, we would expect to be upheld,” he said. “I think that’s a very reasonable and very consistent position for the government … there are proposals I asked to be brought forward weeks ago.”

Mr Xu, who completed his PhD at Melbourne University in 2000, courted controversy in February after he published an essay blaming Mr Xi’s “culture of deception and censorship” for the spread of the coronavirus there.

We’ve reissued our travel advice for #China with information about national security laws and the risk to Australians. More info: https://t.co/gGjivh1wF4

— Smartraveller (@Smartraveller) July 7, 2020

The academic, reportedly arrested in Beijing on Monday, wrote that China was “led by one man only, but this man is in the dark and rules tyrannically, with no method for governance, though he is skilled at playing with power, causing the entire country to suffer”.

Following moves by Beijing to slap tariffs on Australian barley and suspend meat exporters — viewed as retaliation against Canberra — China last month handed a death-sentence to Australian actor-turned entrepreneur Karm Gilespie, seven years after his arrest on drug trafficking charges.

Chinese lawyers told The Australian they believed the decision was tied to the state of the bilateral relationship.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the updated DFAT advice would “help travelling Australians better understand the risks”.

With Richard Ferguson