The famous Australian journalist Cheng Lei He returned home this Wednesday after spending detained in China for three years for vague charges against national security. Cheng has been at the center of sour relations between Canberra and Beijing and his release comes on the eve of a visit to the Chinese capital by the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanesewhich accentuates the suspicion of the political profile of the case.
The journalist was received at Melbourne airport by Penny Wong, Foreign Minister. The news was revealed by Albanese at a press conference: “The Government has been looking for this moment for a long time and her return is welcomed with joy not only by her family and friends but by all Australians (…) She is a very strong woman and resistant”.
Cheng, 48, was detained in the summer of 2020 while on her way to work. She did not push her profile, a troubadour of governmental excellence, to suspicion. She was born in China, at the age of 10 she moved to Australia with her parents, she graduated from the University of Queensland and returned two decades ago to Beijing to start her journalistic career on the English-language public television channel. She was the face of the benchmark finance program. She interviewed ministers and presidents of the most brilliant companies, she emphasized the successful fight against poverty and presented herself on Twitter as a “passionate speaker on Chinese history.” She had no known disagreements with the official message nor any more sensitive statements than the distant laments on Australian television about censorship in China.
Her channel deleted her from the website, friends and family lost contact with her and the Australian embassy revealed that she had been subjected to “surveillance“in an undetermined location. The judicial ordeal began, which concluded this Wednesday. The Chinese authorities accused her of “reveal state secrets to foreign countries” and they sent her to prison. The trial would not come until two years later, behind closed doors and without diplomatic assistance. Even today it is not known if a sentence was handed down. In her first statements, through a letter, Cheng revealed months ago that he missed his two children and could only enjoy 10 hours of sunlight a year. “I haven’t seen a tree in three years. I evoke every path through the forest, river, lake, dip on the beach, picnic and psychedelic sunset. “I secretly whisper the names of the places I have visited,” she said in her “declaration of love to 25 million people and seven million square kilometers of land, abundant nature and beauty.”
Soured bilateral relations
His arrest aggravated bilateral friction. Canberra had removed the electronic giant Huawei of their networks 5Gpassed laws against what it perceived as Chinese intrusions and demanded explanations about the origin of the pandemic. Beijing punished Australian exports of wine and beef. The climate explains why Australia does not have journalists in China for the first time in more than half a century after the hasty departure of the last few on consular recommendation.
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The arrival to power last year of the Labor Party Albanese after the fractious conservative mandate allowed for optimism about the recovery of bilateral harmony. The process is slower than expected but the dialogue is back and Albanese’s visit to Beijing this year had been announced. He was pressured by the opposition and broad social sectors to obtain Cheng’s release before landing in Australia’s main trading partner. Albanese recently revealed that he had discussed the matter with the prime minister, Li Qiang, during a dinner at the G20 held in Bali in September. “Dialogue is always a good idea, even with people you have disagreements with,” she clarified.
Another victim of those tensions, the Australian journalist and writer Yang Hengjun, remains imprisoned since 2019, also for vague accusations of espionage and without the sentence of his trial having been revealed. Albanese repeated this Wednesday that they continue fighting for his release.