Senator James Paterson and West Australian Liberal Andrew Hastie have stoutly and correctly refused to ‘repent’ as requested by the Chinese government as the price for visiting their country. The trip appears to still be on for Labor frontbencher Stephen Jones.  

It is regrettable, though, that Hastie and Paterson will not be going to China because, if they had, the pair of stalwart human rights defenders may have had opportunity to ask of the whereabouts of two men, Liu Hu and Dong Rubin. 

The two, according to Human Rights Watch, were among the 15 anti-corruption activists arrested in Beijing and Jianxi province in 2013 for demanding that...