bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Subjected to daily interrogations and blocked from leaving China for more than a week, Australia-based academic Feng Chongyi arrived home in Sydney on Sunday, vowing to return to the mainland later this year to complete his research.
Feng, an Australian permanent resident who retains his Chinese passport, was conducting field interviews for a project on Chinese human rights lawyers and their political aspirations.
“If they wanted to scare me they failed miserably,” Feng, a well-known China Studies expert at the University of Technology Sydney, said via telephone.
“I’m not scared of them. I did not do anything illegal.”
Trapped Australia-based academic fears long forced stay in China
The project, which is partly government-funded via the Australian Research Council, touches on sensitive subject matter for the Chinese government.
In a video provided to the South China Morning Post by his lawyer Chen Jinxue, Feng described the questioning row as a “minor incident in life” and vowed to return to China in future.
“I’ll return and fight together until constitution has been realized in China,” Feng said.
President Xi Jinping’s administration has tightened control over almost every aspect of civil society since 2012, citing the need to buttress national security and stability.
During that time, China has detained or questioned hundreds of human rights lawyers and other government critics, international rights groups have said. It routinely accuses rights lawyers of collaborating with “foreign hostile forces” to undermine state power.
Feng said his case, as well as interviews he conducted before being interrupted, showed the space for government criticism or dissent had been tightened further.
He said he had been unmolested when he met with what he described as “sensitive contacts” on a trip to China a year ago.
“In terms of rule of law and human rights it’s getting worse and worse. It’s clear their control of Chinese citizens has become harder and harder,” he said.
“It’s a reflection of their [the Chinese government’s] insecurity. They can shut you down.”
China’s Ministry of Public Security and its Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday that Feng was being prevented from leaving on “national security” grounds, without elaborating.
EU urges China to investigate reports of torture of lawyers detained in ‘709 crackdown’
Feng arrived in China a month ago for his work and was first held for questioning in Kunming, the capital of southwestern Yunnan province, before being barred twice from boarding flights from Guangzhou on March 25 and 26, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters previously.
Feng said he was informed on Saturday morning by the state security officers who had been questioning him daily that he was free to leave. He was made to sign a statement pledging not to divulge details of his interrogation sessions as a condition of his release.
The case had prompted Australian government intervention and sparked concern among international academics over the research environment in China.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said last week the Australian government was “monitoring developments closely and has raised this case with senior Chinese officials”. It did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
Additional reporting by Mimi Lau


China probes mental hospitals over reports patients are being locked up in insurance scam

Chinese journalist Liu Hu detained in Sichuan after report scrutinising local officials

Chinese national Guan Heng, who filmed Xinjiang facilities, granted US asylum

‘No soil for corruption’: China’s Chen Weijun latest among Xinjiang officials investigated

Human rights in China

‘I’m not scared’: detained Australia-based academic released from China but vows to return

Feng Chongyi returned to Sydney on Sunday. Photo: Handout

News

China

Politics

Sydney-based professor Feng Chongyi says he will go back to continue research on human rights lawyers


‘I’m not scared’: detained Australia-based academic released from China but vows to return

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sydney-based professor Feng Chongyi says he will go back to continue research on human rights lawyers

Sydney-based professor Feng Chongyi says he will go back to continue research on human rights lawyers