Chinese authorities threatened to detain an Australian journalist and his 14-year-old daughter two years ago, in apparent retaliation for his coverage of China. Matthew Carney, then the Australian Broadcasting Corp’s Beijing bureau chief, was already bracing for trouble after being reprimanded by Chinese foreign ministry representatives upset over his coverage, which they had deemed unfavourable to the country. The last meeting he had with representatives ended with him being told he had personally broken Chinese laws and was now under ‘investigation.’ The problems continued when Carney sought to renew his journalist visa. During the process, he was instructed to report to a facility and to bring his daughter, where a lead interrogator later alleged she had broken visa rules. He was told because his daughter is an adult under Chinese law, that “as the People’s Republic of China is a law-abiding country, she will be charged with the visa crime.”
