It was past midnight in Shanghai in September when seven Chinese secret police officers knocked on Mike Smith's door.
Mike Smith says his detention was the culmination of China and Australia's worsening relationship, in part caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Supplied
The officers - from the Ministry of State Security - told the Australian journalist he was a person of interest in an investigation of national security, and that he could not leave the country.
The next morning he went to the Australian consulate in Shanghai and a decision was made that he be put under protection.
Writing for the Australian Financial Review, he was one of the last two Australian correspondents based in China - the other being Bill Birtles of the ABC - who himself would spend four days sheltering in the embassy in Beijing.
Days before the police came knocking, the two journalists had been warned by the Australian government to leave China as soon as possible.
Smith believes the spark at the time was the detention of the Australian-Chinese television presenter Cheng Lei, who has only formally been arrested this week.
Cheng Lei, who has only formally been arrested by the Chinese this week. Photo: AFP / Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
But initially he shrugged off the warning - there was little precedent for foreign correspondents being detained in China - they would generally instead be deported.
"It was very dramatic - I was taken from the consulate in a van to my house, where I packed up my belongings, and my partner and I were taken to the home of a consulate official."
Mike Smith, left, and Bill Birtles arrive home in Australia after being forced to leave China. Photo: Twitter / Bill Birtles
After a few days of negotiations, a deal was struck between the Australian and Chinese governments allowing the two journalists to fly home if they agreed to be interviewed by security officials - apparently regarding Cheng Lei's case.
"The interview was pretty light. I was asked some standard questions, then driven to the airport."
He describes the experience as "scary," and a sudden culmination of a year of escalating tensions between the two nations.
Australia and China have for some time had a frosty relationship, but things escalated in April when Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent investigation into the origins of the pandemic, and for a team of scientists to be allowed into Wuhan.
"This really, really angered Beijing," Smith said. "It's a sensitive issue; China really doesn't like this narrative that it caused the global pandemic."
Scott Morrison's demands about the pandemic did not go down well in China. Photo: Gary Ramage / POOL / AFP
Since then, China has boycotted the export of Australian goods, such as barley, wine and coal, crippling some companies.
"Over the year I had noticed an increasingly authoritarian approach by Chinese authorities to foreign journalists. There became a reluctance by ordinary Chinese people to speak to foreign media - and contacts in the business world we had spoken to for years were suddenly clamping up."
Last month, at the signing of a free trade agreement with China, New Zealand Trade Minister Damien O'Connor was criticised for suggesting Australia "should follow us and show respect" to Beijing.
"That obviously ruffled some feathers in Canberra - you've got critics here in Australia who say New Zealand is not doing anyone any favours by playing into China's hands of dividing America's allies, and seeking its friends and seeking its enemies," Smith said.
"But at the same time, has the Morrison government handled certain issues with enough sensitivity?"
Because there are issues that China needs to be held to account for - in the past week there have been further revelations about the incredible abuse and repression of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.
There has also been the erosion of democracy in Hong Kong, and indeed, China's reluctance to share information relating to the pandemic.
"There's the strong argument that if you kowtow too much to China, then it'll walk right over you, so it's a tricky balancing act, especially when a huge amount of a country's economy relies on China."
