Chinese investigators formally arrested an Australian journalist who worked for Chinese state television on suspicion of divulging national secrets, the Australian Foreign Minister said Monday. This is likely to increase tensions between the two countries.
Journalist Cheng Lei was hosting a business show on China Global Television News (CGTN) when she was arrested in August. The Chinese Foreign Ministry later announced that Ms. Cheng had been charged with a national security crime, but did not provide any further details.
“The Chinese authorities have announced that Ms. Cheng has been arrested on suspicion of illegally delivering state secrets overseas,” Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a brief statement on Monday. She gave no further details.
“We expect basic standards of justice, procedural justice and humane treatment to be met in accordance with international norms,” added Ms. Payne.
Ms. Cheng, 45, was born in the southern Chinese province of Hunan and immigrated to Australia with her parents as a child. Her arrest on such a politically charged accusation comes while the two countries have clashed in a series of disputes that have dragged relations to the lowest point in decades.
“I don’t think it’s about the bilateral relationship, although it doesn’t help them,” said Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to Beijing who has written about the deteriorating relationship, of Ms. Cheng’s arrest. China’s definition of state secrets is very broad, he said, adding, “acquittals are rare in such cases.”
Australia’s ability to secure Ms. Cheng’s release through diplomacy appears appallingly limited.
In recent years, Canberra has tried to discourage Beijing from engaging in influence-building activities on Australian soil, including the country’s large population of migrants from China. The Australian government has also angered China by blocking the potential involvement of Chinese tech giant Huawei in building the Australian 5G network.
Last year, Australia called for an international investigation into the causes and course of the coronavirus pandemic, which is enraging China, which has been looking into questions about its guilt at the origin of the outbreak.
China, in turn, has restricted imports of Australian goods such as wine, coal and barley. The Chinese government has not called these actions political retaliation, but few in Australia believe it.
Ms. Cheng’s 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son are cared for by their mother in Melbourne, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday.
“I have a feeling that the children do not fully understand the situation, so it is likely to be quite difficult for the children to wonder what is going on,” Louisa Wen, a niece of Ms. Cheng, told the broadcaster.
“We don’t understand anything about the case,” said Ms. Wen. “But we know she has been in detention for five and a half months and her conditions are deteriorating.”
Prior to Ms. Cheng’s case, Yang Hengjun, another Australian with Chinese heritage, was charged with espionage in China. Mr. Yang, a writer and businessman also known as Yang Jun, has been detained in China since early 2019 and charged with espionage last year.
Two Canadians – Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman – are also awaiting trial in China for espionage. Her supporters said Beijing used her as a farmer to force Canada to refuse to extradite a Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, to the United States, where she is charged with fraud.
Ms. Cheng’s case has been linked to those of two Australian journalists who abruptly left China in September for fear of arrest. After a diplomatic standoff, journalists – Michael Smith, the China correspondent for The Australian Financial Review; and Bill Birtles, a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, were interviewed by Chinese security officials, including about Ms. Cheng.
Haze Fan, a Chinese employee of Bloomberg News in Beijing, was arrested in December in the Chinese capital on suspicion of “criminal activity that endangers national security,” according to Bloomberg
Ms. Cheng first worked in Australia and China. As a CGTN journalist, she appeared keen to foster better relations between the two countries and had highlighted China’s economic success story.
“Passionate speaker on China history,” says the introduction on her Twitter account.
However, last year when the coronavirus pandemic was worst in China, Ms. Cheng made critical comments on Chinese government officials on her Facebook page. She mocked a Communist Party cadre who said citizens should be grateful.
“Even in China, where the satire pool never runs out, this is too rich,” she wrote. “In China, the belief ‘do what I say, not like me’ is deeply rooted in public office. “Serve the people” are the slogans. The reality is the opposite. “
