Two Australian researchers banned from entering China

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Two Australian researchers have been banned from entering China, weeks after two Australian journalists were forced to flee the country. The scholars were identified by Chinese state-owned newspaper The Global Times as Professor Clive Hamilton from Charles Sturt University and Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analyst Alexander Joske.

The Global Times said, the pair were banned under the country's exit and entry administration law after the Australian government allegedly revoked the visas of two Chinese scholars earlier this year.

Professor Hamilton is a vocal critic of the Chinese Government, and recently published a book about the Communist Party's influence in Australia. Mr Joske conducted research for the book, which was released this year.

Both Professor Hamilton and Mr Joske said on Thursday they had not planned to travel to China nor applied for a visa in years citing safety concerns. He had not received prior warning of the ban and was only made aware of it through the Global Times report. With the Chinese government getting increasingly paranoid and vindictive, it isn't the sort of place someone like me would go nowadays. It is pretty clear from the Global Times article that the banning of myself and Alexander Joske is in retaliation to the Australian government's exclusion of two Chinese academics ... It's a petty, petty response.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a briefing of foreign journalists on Thursday the government was well within their rights to ban the two scholars. China firmly opposes actions that harm the country's security and spread misinformation under the pretext of scholarly work.