This sort of thing really can’t be considered much of a surprise anymore. Anyone who creates problems for the government of China is liable to suddenly disappear. That seems to be what has happened to a well-known reporter named Minnie Chan who is based in Hong Kong but who recently took a business trip to Beijing.

Minnie Chan, the South China Morning Post reporter, became unreachable after visiting Beijing to cover Xiangshan Forum, a three-day international security forum that ended Oct. 31, said the people, mainly her friends, expressing their worries that Chan may be under investigation by mainland authorities.

Chan’s employer says her family has told them she is handling a “private matter.”

In a statement, the SCMP said Chan had taken “personal leave.”

“Her family has informed us that she is in Beijing but needs time to handle a private matter. Her family has told us she is safe but has requested that we respect her privacy,” the newspaper said, without providing further details.

Despite this vague statement the Committee to Protect Journalists put out a statement about Chan’s disappearance.

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Chinese authorities to immediately account for Hong Kong journalist Minnie Chan’s whereabouts, after news reports of her disappearance following her travel to the Chinese capital in October to cover the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, a security conference.

“Reports about the disappearance of Hong Kong journalist Minnie Chan after a work trip to Beijing are extremely concerning, and Chinese authorities must immediately disclose her location and guarantee her safety,” Iris Hsu, CPJ’s China representative, said on Friday. “Journalists must be able to do their work without fearing for their safety.”

So far it appears no one knows anything about here whereabouts or why she disappeared.

This is the sort of thing that happens pretty routinely in China, not just to journalists but to anyone who creates a problem for the government including famous actresses, billionaires, sports stars, even high ranking members of the government. Unless you’re name is Xi Jinping, you’re not safe in China. Yesterday, Politico Europe published a story about Xi’s Stalinist purge of everyone he considers a threat or a problem.

While the world is distracted by war in the Middle East and Ukraine, a Stalin-like purge is sweeping through China’s ultra-secretive political system, with profound implications for the global economy and even the prospects for peace in the region…

The unexplained disappearance and removal of China’s foreign and defense ministers — both Xi loyalists who were handpicked and elevated mere months before they went missing earlier this year — are just two examples.

Other high-profile victims include the generals in charge of China’s nuclear weapons program and some of the most senior officials overseeing the Chinese financial sector. Several of these former Xi acolytes have apparently died in custody.

Another ominous sign is the untimely death of Li Keqiang, China’s recently retired prime minister — No. 2 in the Communist hierarchy — who supposedly died of a heart attack in a swimming pool in Shanghai in late October, despite enjoying some of the world’s best medical care. Following his death, Xi ordered public mourning for his former rival be heavily curtailed.

In the minds of many in China, “heart attack in a swimming pool” has the same connotation that “falling out of a window” does for Russian apparatchiks who anger or offend Vladimir Putin.

So, getting back to Minnie Chan, we have a vague reassurance from her employer that her family says she’s safe. Maybe that’s true or maybe her family was told by police that bad things would happen if they complained. What we know for sure is that she’s been gone for more than a month and no one who knows her seems able to reach her.