An Australian journalist for Chinese state television who was detained last month is suspected of carrying out illegal activities that endanger the country's security, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry said.
Cheng Lei, a high-profile business anchor on CGTN, an English-language channel, was detained three weeks ago, and videos of her had been removed from Chinese websites.
"The Australian national Cheng Lei is suspected of carrying out criminal activities endangering China's national security, and compulsory measures have been taken and an investigation is under way by the relevant authority," the foreign ministry spokesman said.
His comments were Beijing's first explaining Ms Cheng's detention.
"Now this case is being handled according to law and Cheng's legitimate rights and interests are fully guaranteed," he said.
Earlier, two Australian correspondents returned to their country after being rushed out of China for their safety after they had been banned from leaving the country until they answered questions about Ms Cheng.
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Bill Birtles and Australian Financial Review correspondent Michael Smith had sheltered in Australian diplomatic offices for several days before being allowed to leave the country.
The ABC said Mr Birtles, who was based in Beijing, and Mr Smith, who worked from Shanghai, flew out of Shanghai accompanied by Australian diplomats and arrived in Sydney early today.
The incident comes amid worsening diplomatic relations between the two governments and followed the detention last month of Ms Cheng.
She is the second high-profile Australian citizen to be detained in Beijing after writer Yang Hengjun was arrested in January last year on suspicion of espionage.
The ABC said Australia's foreign ministry warned Mr Birtles last week that he should leave China but on the day before his scheduled departure last Thursday seven police officers visited his home at midnight and said he was banned from leaving.
The police said they wanted to question Mr Birtles over a "national security case", prompting him to take refuge at the embassy.
He was questioned by Chinese police later in the week in the presence of Australian diplomats and the travel ban was lifted, ABC said.
The AFR said Mr Smith was also visited by police the same night in Shanghai and that both men were questioned in relation to the case against Ms Cheng.
"This incident targeting two journalists, who were going about their normal reporting duties, is both regrettable and disturbing and is not in the interests of a co-operative relationship between Australia and China," the Financial Review's editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury and editor Paul Bailey said in a statement.
Australia earlier this year warned its citizens they faced the risk of arbitrary detention in China.
On arriving home, Mr Birtles tweeted that "It's nice to be home but deeply disappointing to leave China under such abrupt circumstances".
It's nice to be home but deeply disappointing to leave China under such abrupt circumstances. It's been a big part of my life & the past week was surreal. A very big thank you to the ABC, friends, colleagues & those involved at DFAT. Plus @MikeSmithAFR for sharing the ride out. pic.twitter.com/zkJEV4Oa27
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) September 8, 2020
Meanwhile, the US has accused China of "threatening" and "harassing" foreign journalists after it refused to renew press credentials for several employees of American media organisations.
The two superpower rivals have restricted reporter visas, with China expelling journalists, as brinkmanship over trade and tech, Hong Kong and the coronavirus, spills over into the media.
China's record of "threatening, harassing, and expelling US and other foreign journalists goes back decades", US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement provided by the US Embassy in Beijing.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently informed the US embassy in Beijing of new curbs on foreign reporters "by denying them press card renewals and refusing to process pending visa applications for journalists who were expelled earlier this year," she said.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China yesterday confirmed the action, saying at least five journalists at four media groups, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Bloomberg, had been denied new press cards.
More are expected to receive similar treatment in coming weeks, placing further pressure on the already diminished foreign press corps.
A record 17 foreign journalists were expelled from China in the first half of 2020 alone, the FCCC said.
Foreign journalists are usually not allowed to work in China without valid press cards, which are also a requirement for gaining a residence permit.
Reporters are instead receiving letters that temporarily allow them to work using their expired press cards, but these "could be revoked at any time", the FCCC said.
China says the moves merely mirror curbs placed on its journalists working in the US, where Donald Trump's administration has curtailed the visas of Chinese reporters to 90 days.
