China’s bizarre move against Australia

Two Australian scholars have been banned from entering China, despite neither of them seemingly having plans to go.

A report in Chinese government mouthpiece the Global Times said Clive Hamilton, author of Silent Invasion, and Australian Strategic Policy Institute researcher Alex Joske had been banned from entering the country.

There has been no explanation of why the two men were banned from entering China.

It comes as Australian researchers have identified and mapped more than 380 suspected detention centres in the Xinjiang region, including "re-education camps" and high-security prison-style facilities.

The database, compiled by the ASIP is the world's most extensive.

It's the latest in an ongoing tit-for-tat between Australia and China, which has resulted in Australian journalists Bill Birtles and Michael Smith being rushed out of China, and Chinese academics Chen Hong and Li Jianjun having their visas cancelled.

In a tweet, Birtles said the latest move from China was "puzzling", because unlike the Chinese academics who had existing Australian visas, neither Joske or Hamilton "had visas to cancel or were applying to go to China".

Hamilton tweeted: "There go my travel plans."

Originally published as China's bizarre move against Australia