A Channel Nine reporter and a crew from 60 Minutes have been detained in a hotel on the Pacific island archipelago of Kiribati after they arrived in the country without appropriate media permits.

It is understood that the journalist Liam Bartlett and the crew were there to film a story about the recent decision of the Kiribati government to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establish diplomatic relations with China.

Ioera Simon, who works at the front desk of the hotel where the crew were being detained in Tarawa, said immigration officials showed up at the hotel on Wednesday morning and two officials were stationed outside the rooms where the crew were staying.

The group were allowed to leave their rooms, but not the grounds of the hotel, she said.

“They are allowed to leave [their rooms] for food,” said Simon. “They are kept in the hotel.

“They seem all right,” Simon said. “A bit upset, but OK.”

A Kiribati immigration official said the group had been asked to remain in their hotel after they arrived in the country without appropriate media permits and had made false declarations on their arrival cards, saying they were in the country for “meetings”.

The official who asked not to be named, as he was not speaking on behalf of the immigration department, said the crew was “intercepted” on Tuesday morning while filming at the closed Taiwanese commission.

“This is a clear deliberate breach and undermining of the Kiribati immigration laws,” he said. “This shows that this group is not a very good media or journalist group … they pursue their own plans without checking with the proper office concerned that they had permits, plus they didn’t tell the truth upon arrival, that’s the reason why we asked them to return to the hotel.”

The official said that while the group had made contact with the Office of the President before arrival and had been sent the application for a media permit to enter the country for reporting purposes, they had not sent it back to the office and therefore had not been approved to enter the country.

Liam Bartlett travelled to Kiribati with a 60 Minutes crew on Monday. Photograph: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

In a statement, Channel Nine disputed this version of events, saying: “The 60 Minutes crew travelled to Kiribati on Monday. Before leaving, they submitted applications for filming approval.

“On arrival they arranged a meeting with authorities including the Executive Assistant of the President and a Senior Representative of the Immigration Department to discuss the application. Further forms were submitted and a request was made for expedited approval. That request was declined this morning and the 60 Minutes team were asked to remain in their hotel until the next flight out, which was their scheduled departure flight.

“The crew is not under detention or house arrest as has been incorrectly reported, and the issue does not affect the story being worked on.”

The Kiribati immigration official said that despite their infraction, the group had not received any penalty except the request not to leave the hotel until their departure.

“There’s no deportation, we don’t lock them up in an immigration holding cell, they just relax at the hotel,” he said.

The official confirmed that two immigration officials were stationed at the hotel to prevent the crew from leaving and said that earlier on Wednesday the crew had tried to leave the hotel and had been asked to return by the officials.

“The way they conducted themselves is not entirely professional. They come here and lecture us on democracy, they come here and lecture us on how much we should charge people for the fee [for the media permit] and they come here because they think they can do whatever they want in the Pacific and beyond and we should follow suit. This is not acceptable. They insist on going out even though we ask them nicely to stay in the hotel, they ask for legal representation, they argue with officers,” he said.

The official said the crew had had visitors and he suspected they were trying to make a documentary from inside the hotel.

“We never experienced a media group like this, with these people undermining the authorities, talking back to them, teaching us our history and how to run this country and they have no verification and no rights to come here.”

In 2016 another 60 Minutes crew, with the reporter Tara Brown, was detained in Beirut, Lebanon after filming a botched child recovery operation.

Brown, the veteran producer Steven Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment were arrested while attempting to help the Australian woman Sally Faulkner recover her children from her estranged husband.

Foreign journalists who come to Kiribati must receive permits from the government to report.

The Kiribati president, Taneti Maamau, restricted the criteria for media permits after a ferry sank off the country last year, killing 95 people, due to a litany of failings, including overcrowding on the boat. A team of New Zealand journalists from Newshub were detained last year upon arrival in the country to report on the ferry’s sinking.

The Pacific Islands News Association, the leading regional news organisation, issued a statement saying it was “concerned” by reports of the detention of the Australian crew and were carrying out an investigation through its own media partners on the ground in Kirbati.

“We have tried to contact the 60 Minutes crew at their hotel in Tarawa but have been informed that they are not allowed incoming or outgoing calls, as per their detention order,” said a spokesperson for PINA.