SYDNEY—An accredited Epoch Times journalist was taken aside by security during the Final Leader Declaration photo opportunity at APEC today and was told it was due to pressure from the Chinese officials.
Sarah Matheson, 24, a journalist from New Zealand was among around 50 photographers who had been accredited for the final ceremony outside the Opera House and an opportunity to photograph the leaders from the 21 economies.
A security guard approached Miss Matheson and said Chinese officials had made a complaint about The Epoch Times being present at the ceremony.
"We have copped a huge amount of flak from the Chinese—they are afraid you are going to speak out," he said.
He then asked Miss Matheson if she would yell anything out—to which she replied, "No." Miss Matheson said, "It would not be good for the newspaper or Australia if I yelled something out."
The security guard then said, "To put my Chinese colleagues at ease, I am going to put one of our female officers beside you. I think the Prime Minister would kill me if anything happened."
Ten minutes later a media liaison officer came and said half of the group would be taken to another photo opportunity site, Miss Matheson said.
"The female officer and a Police officer, escorted a group of 10-15 of us to the side of Government House out of view of the original photo opportunity. "They said there would be a photo opportunity there," she said.
The female officer said, "We live in a democratic country but when they come over here they have all these demands. We don't like it either."
Three black suited Chinese agents appeared on the scene shortly after, Miss Matheson said.
"They stood within two metres of me. I attempted to speak with one of the officers but he did not speak English."
"There was no photo opportunity at this site and we stood there until about 2.50pm when the security lady [Nicole] suddenly ran away—and the Chinese security agents also left."
APEC media staff then moved the group to a further site by a water fountain where they were able to photograph a few remaining leaders, Miss Matheson said.
"They allowed us to take photos from about 35 metres of John Howard shaking hands with the leaders of Japan, Russia, the Philippines, Canada, and New Zealand."
The group were then taken back to the ferry to return to the APEC media centre at Darling Harbour.
A Sydney Morning Herald photographer and Indonesian photographers were also part of the group.
On days before Sunday, The Epoch Times had covered several official APEC without incident, including the customary Leader's group photo of all 21 APEC leaders—including Chinese President Hu Jintao; a finance meeting—which included Chinese panelists; the Ministerial Plenary; and a walk-by photo opportunity for Ministers.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson Paul Molloy said he was not aware of Sunday's incident.
"That's not an matter I was in charge of. As you know the leaders' meeting has been handled by the Prime Minister's office rather than Foreign Affairs."
When asked how we could obtain more information about the incident and what we should do from here he replied, "I don't see how it affects The Epoch Times in Australia—you are still able to publish your newspaper here," he said.
Mr Molloy said he was not in a position to tell The Epoch Times who was in charge of security for the Leaders Final Declaration event when interviewed by telephone.
He said he would look into the incident next week when he returned to Canberra.
The Epoch Times is a global newspaper and website that reports extensively on human rights issues inside China.
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