REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/File Photo
- Haze Fan, who works for the Bloomberg News bureau in Beijing, has been detained by Chinese authorities since Monday, Bloomberg reported Friday.
- China confirmed Thursday that Fan was being held “on suspicion of engaging in criminal activities that jeopardize national security.”
- Fan was last seen being escorted from her flat in Beijing by security officials on Monday morning, Bloomberg reported.
- Fan’s detainment comes amid high tensions between Western media organizations and Beijing.
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Chinese authorities have detained Haze Fan, a staffer in the Bloomberg News office in Beijing, on suspicion of endangering national security, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
Fan, who is a Chinese citizen, was last seen being taken away from her apartment in Beijing by plain-clothes security officials, after speaking to one of her editors at around 11:30 a.m. Monday, Bloomberg reported.
Since Fan disappeared on Monday, Bloomberg had been trying to find out where she has been taken, asking both the Chinese government and the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, it said.
Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, on Thursday received confirmation from Chinese authorities that Fan was being held on suspicion of endangering national security.
“Chinese citizen Ms. Fan has been detained by the Beijing National Security Bureau according to relevant Chinese law on suspicion of engaging in criminal activities that jeopardize national security,” the Chinese authorities said, per Bloomberg.
"The case is currently under investigation. Ms. Fan's legitimate rights have been fully ensured and her family has been notified," they added.
China's definition of endangering national security is notoriously broad.
Fan, who covers Chinese business news topics for Bloomberg, started working for the publication in 2017. She previously worked for Al Jazeera, CBS News, CNBC, and Thomson Reuters.
In 2009, she finished studying a Masters in International Journalism at the University of Leeds in England, according to her LinkedIn.
A Bloomberg spokesperson said: "We are very concerned for her, and have been actively speaking to Chinese authorities to better understand the situation. We are continuing to do everything we can to support her while we seek more information."
Fan's detainment comes amid high tensions between the Western media organizations and China, as well as the White House and Chinese media.
The US and China have been back and forth imposing sanctions on the other country's journalists. The US has labelled Chinese media organizations as government entities, and the Trump administration in May tightened visas for Chinese reporters, limiting the time they could stay in the country to 90 days.
Read more: The US and China are breaking up. The only question now is how ugly it will get.
Meanwhile, in February, China expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters after the newspaper titled an article "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia." China deemed this racist, and gave the reporters five days to leave the country.
One month later, China said it was kicking out at least 13 American journalists at three major US news organizations: The New York Times, the Journal, and The Washington Post.