International media were denied entry from China President Xi Jinping’s meeting with world leaders at a dinner in Papua New Guinea overnight.
Mr Xi was hosting a working dinner to discuss Chinese involvement in the Pacific, alongside the leaders of PNG, Cook Islands, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.
The incident comes in the middle of the 2018 APEC summit, at which China is expected to make a considerable push with its influence in the Pacific.
Local and international media had been invited to the dinner, including reporters from the ABC, but were told to leave by officials upon arriving at the airport.
Gorethy Kenneth from the Post Courier, speaking to the ABC, said that “I said: ‘We are here to cover the meeting, our names have been submitted.’ And they said: ‘No, all of you get out.'”
Although media outlets had registered with the PNG government to cover the meeting and been issued with special passes, all international media were refused entry, with only Chinese journalists granted access.
Media personnel that were refused entry to the meeting
“It’s quite disappointing because…for a meeting as big as this, and PNG being the host country, we were all looking forward to covering this,” said PNG senior reporter Helen Tarawa Rei.
“We want to hear a lot of the things that are happening there with the Pacific Islander leaders, our Prime Minister and the Chinese President…we weren’t allowed and we’re just wondering why.”
An ABC cameraman was also reportedly threatened by a local security officer after filming journalists being ejected from the premises.
Chinese officials have been ultra-tight with international media throughout the visit, with reporters not told they were not allowed to record speeches at a ceremony to open a road in Port Moresby.
This recent incident comes a month after Australian and local journalists were escorted off the runway when covering the arrival of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, despite being invited to the event.
