Chinese investigators have formally arrested an Australian journalist who worked for China’s state television on suspicion of national secrecy, the Australian foreign minister said on Monday. This is likely to increase tensions between the two countries.
Journalist Cheng Lei was working as an anchor for a business program on China Global Television News, or CGTN, when she was detained in August. The Chinese Foreign Ministry later announced that Cheng had been charged with a national security crime, but gave no further details.
“Chinese authorities have announced that Ms Cheng has been arrested for illegally providing state secrets abroad,” Australian Foreign Secretary Marise Payne said in a brief statement on Monday. She gave no other details.
“We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in line with international standards,” she said. Payne added.
Me. Cheng, 45, was born in Hunan province in southern China and migrated to Australia with her parents as a child. Her arrest on such a politically-charged indictment comes while the two countries were in disagreement in a series of disputes that pushed relations to their lowest point in decades.
“I do not think it’s about the bilateral relationship, but it does help her,” Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to Beijing who wrote about the deterioration of relations, said of Cheng’s arrest. China’s definition of state secrets was very broad, he said, adding: “Acquittal is not frequent in such cases.”
According to the U.S. Code of Criminal Procedure, providing state secrets overseas should result in a prison sentence of five to ten years or more in serious cases.
Australia’s ability to me. Cheng by releasing diplomacy appears to be frighteningly limited.
In recent years, Canberra has tried to ward off Beijing from activities on Australian soil, including among the country’s large population of recent migrants from China. The Australian government has also angered China by blocking the potential participation of Chinese technology giant Huawei in building Australia’s 5G network.
Last year, Australia led calls for an international inquiry into the origins and course of the coronavirus pandemic, which angered China, which was sensitive about the question of its guilt at the origin of the outbreak.
In turn, China has restricted imports of Australian goods, including wine, coal and barley.. The Chinese government has not described this action as political retaliation, but few in Australia are convinced otherwise.
Me. Cheng’s 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son are being cared for by her mother in Melbourne, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday.
“I feel that the children do not fully understand the situation, so it is probably difficult for the children and wonder what is going on,” said Louisa Wen, a niece of Ms. Cheng, told the announcer.
“We do not understand anything about the case,” she said. Wen said. “But we know she’s been in custody for five and a half months and her circumstances are deteriorating.”
Before the case of Mrs Cheng, another Australian of Chinese heritage, Yang Hengjun, faced espionage charges in China. Mr. Yang, a writer and businessman, also known as Yang Jun, has been detained in China since early 2019, and last year he was charged with espionage.
Two Canadians – Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman – are also awaiting trial in China on espionage charges. Their supporters said Beijing was using them as pawns to force Canada to deny the extradition of a Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, to the United States, where she faces fraud.
Mrs Cheng’s case is related to that of two Australian journalists who suddenly left China in September for fear of being detained. Following a diplomatic strike, journalists – Michael Smith, the Chinese correspondent for The Australian Financial Review; and Bill Birtles, a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – were questioned by Chinese state security officials, including about Ms. Cheng.
Haze Fan, a Chinese staff member of Bloomberg News in Beijing, was arrested in the Chinese capital in December on suspicion of “criminal activities that endanger national security,” according to Bloomberg.
Me. Cheng first works in Australia and China. As a CGTN journalist, she seems keen to promote better relations between the two countries, highlighting China’s economic success story.
‘Passionate speaker of the China story, ”reads the introduction on her Twitter account.
Last year, when the coronavirus pandemic was at its worst in China, Ms. Cheng commented critically on Chinese government officials on her Facebook page. She made a mockery of one cadre of the Communist Party who said citizens should be grateful.
“Even in China, where the plasma material for satire never runs low, it is too rich,” she wrote. “In China, the belief ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ runs deep in public office. “Serve the people,” read the slogans. The reality is the opposite. ”