Chinese news anchor Rui Chenggang detained by authorities hours before going on air

Rui was meant to present his nightly Economic News programme before being detained

Chenggang had his most famous broadcasting moment when he questioned Barack Obama at the G20 Summit in 2010

A popular Chinese news anchor has been detained by Chinese authorities just hours before he was expected to front his nightly news show.

Business journalist Rui Chenggang was taken from his workplace, the state-run broadcaster CCTV, by prosecutors on Friday, according to various Chinese media sources.

Rui’s detainment comes just over a month after the The Supreme People’s Procuratorate had announced that they had taken in the director and producer of CCTV’s financial news channel under suspicion of corruption.

On June 1, director Guo Zhenxi and producer Tian Liwu were taken in by authorities as part of an investigation into accusations of bribery.

Rui was due to anchor on the Friday edition of his nightly Economic News programme after CCTV’s Weibo account posted that he and co-host Xie Yingying would be fronting the show together.

However, only Xie appeared, leading many wondering about the whereabouts of Rui.

The most famous moment of Rui’s broadcasting career came at 2010’s G20 Summit in Seoul, during a press conference from Barack Obama.

When offering out the final question to the Korean press Obama chose Rui. Rui replied by saying, “I’m actually Chinese. But I think I get to represent the entire Asia,” adding, “we are a big family on this side of the world.”

He has also fronted a campaign that eventually saw Starbucks removed from Beijing’s historic Forbidden City and once famously asked US ambassador to China Gary Locke whether the US owed China money.

The last message posted by Rui was from his Weibo account on Thursday, in which he said he would be on air soon.