Feng, a long-time associate professor at UTS, has not been detained within China but has been repeatedly questioned about his research, sources say

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

An academic from the University of Technology Sydney has been prevented from leaving China, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed.

Chongyi Feng, an associate professor in China studies, was stopped for the second time in two days on Saturday when trying to board a flight to Australia, the ABC reported.

Sources have told Reuters he had been repeatedly interrogated over his links to liberal intellectuals in mainland China.

The professor has spoken publicly about the Chinese government’s influence in Australia, and in January he told Associated Press that China’s ruling Communist Party was “shutting down speech”.



In a 2016 article for The Conversation he also questioned the promotion of a Mao tribute concert in Sydney, writing that for many Australians the communist leader was a symbol of dictatorship, violence and political persecution.



Feng, who is an Australian permanent resident but retains his Chinese passport, entered China three weeks ago.

A UTS statement released on Sunday evening said: “The university has been in regular contact with Feng, who has assured us that he is fine, and that although he is currently unable to leave China, for reasons we do not yet understand, he nonetheless has freedom of movement in China and freedom of communications.”

He was first held for questioning in Kunming, the provincial capital of southwestern Yunnan earlier this week, before being barred from boarding a flight to Sydney at Guangzhou’s international airport on Friday morning, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

He is travelling with his wife, who is an Australian national.

Having subsequently requested help from Australian authorities, Feng felt confident his case had been resolved and he would be free to travel, one of the sources said. But he was again notified he was on a no-fly list when attempting to board a second flight home late on Saturday.

A DFAT spokesperson said the department was aware that the professor, who is an Australian permanent resident, had been prevented from leaving the country.

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“According to the Australia-China consular treaty, the Australian government is able to provide consular assistance only to Australian citizens who have entered China on their Australian passport,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

However the justice minister, Michael Keenan, said the Australian government had been in contact with his family and the Chinese government.

“We will continue to obviously monitor the situation and remain in contact with Chinese authorities about it,” Keenan told reporters in Perth.



China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Feng’s profile page on the UTS site says he served as head of China studies at the university for 11 years (1995-2006). His current research focuses on intellectual and political development in modern and contemporary China, exploring the intellectual and political changes, the growth of rights consciousness and democratic forces.

For research into his academic work, the sources said, Feng had been meeting fellow academics, intellectuals and rights lawyers in Beijing and other cities in mainland China, before he was picked up at his hotel in Kunming by provincial state security and taken away to another hotel and questioned for three hours.

After travelling to Guangzhou to board his flight to Sydney, he received a call from the same state security officers informing him they had followed him to Guangzhou, the sources said. They arranged to meet and Feng was questioned for another three hours over who he met while in Beijing and who his contacts were in Australia.

A UTS email to staff seen by Guardian Australia said: “We have no reason to believe that other staff travelling in China will have similar difficulties however if you have any concerns please make contact with your supervisor who will seek further advice or assistance if required.”

Since coming to power, President Xi Jinping has presided over a sweeping crackdown on dissent that has seen hundreds of rights lawyers detained or questioned, sending a chill through intellectual, academic, art and journalist circles.

But Feng’s ordeal represents a rare, if not the first, instance of a prominent foreign-university academic being subjected to the same treatment.

UTS has an Australia-China Relations Institute which described as it having a “positive and optimistic” view on bilateral ties.

China’s premier, Li Keqiang, has just ended a five-day visit to Australia espousing free trade and closer economic ties between Australia and China.

Australian Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report