Cheng Lei
China has formally arrested an Australian citizen who was previously a Chinese state television news presenter, and has stepped up a case that has contributed to tensions between Beijing and Canberra.
Cheng Lei, an Australian of Chinese descent who recently worked for state broadcaster CGTN, was formally arrested in China on February 5 after six months in detention, the minister’s office said on Monday. ‘Australian Foreign Affairs, Marise Payne. Chinese authorities have reported that Cheng was “arrested on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets abroad,” the statement.
China had said in September that Cheng was “suspected of carrying out criminal activities that endanger China’s national security, ”among the most serious allegations ever filed against a foreign journalist established in the country.
She was arrested in mid-August under a provision that allowed her to be detained for up to six months without charges or access to a lawyer.
Australian embassy officials have visited Cheng six times since his arrest, most recently on Jan. 27, under a bilateral consular agreement with China. statement.
Australia “has raised its serious concerns about Ms. Cheng’s detention regularly at higher levels, including her well-being and conditions of detention,” the statement. “We hope that the basic standards of justice, procedural equity and human treatment are met, in accordance with international standards.”
Increased tensions
The case came to light amid deteriorating relations between China and Australia, which sparked fears that Beijing would have turned to Cheng to put pressure on Canberra. Tensions worsened after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in April, a move seen in China in support of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to blame -the one from the pandemic.
The government of Chinese President Xi Jinping imposed tariffs on Australian barley, banned products from various meat factories and launched an anti-dumping probe on its wine exports. Despite this, China remains Australia’s main trading partner, driven by the nation’s hunger for resources such as iron ore and coal.
Cheng has hosted business programs as a CGTN presenter since 2012 and was well known among the small circle of Beijing diplomats and journalists. He had previously been a China correspondent at CNBC, after graduating from the University of Queensland with a bachelor’s degree in commerce and serving a stint as an accountant at Cadbury Schweppes, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Cheng’s arrest also coincided with a specific dispute between Australia and China over each other’s intelligence agencies’ efforts to interrogate foreign journalists. China withdrew four state-run media journalists from Australia after authorities stormed their home, while two Australian correspondents left China after state security agents questioned them.
One of the Australian journalists, Mike Smith of the Australian Financial Review, said in September that Chinese officials asked him about Cheng, among other things, before he was allowed to leave. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said separately that the cases of Australian and Cheng journalists were unrelated to raids on Chinese journalists’ homes.
– With the assistance of Jason Scott and James Mayger