Just as unexpectedly as she was arrested three years ago, Australian-Chinese journalist Cheng Lei was released again this Wednesday. She was taken by people from the Chinese state security service on her way to work on August 13, 2020, her partner said at the time.
At that time, relations between China and Australia were at a low point. Australia had urged the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of the coronavirus in China. China was furious about this and, in response, imposed sky-high import tariffs on Australian wine.
Cheng is released now that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is about to visit China. That visit, likely at the end of this month or early next month, should mark that relations have passed their low point. In any case, the leaders of both countries will then be talking directly to each other again, and that was not the case at the height of tensions: China then almost completely ignored Australia.
Chinese state broadcaster
Until her arrest, 48-year-old Cheng, born in China but raised in Australia, was a valued business reporter at the English-language Chinese state broadcaster CGTN.
The Chinese Ministry of State Security initially did not formulate charges, but in February 2021 came forward with the accusation that it had passed on state secrets to an unnamed foreign power. In March 2022, the process began behind closed doors: even the Australian ambassador was not allowed inside. No outcome of the trial was announced afterwards. The punishment also remained unknown.
The Ministry of State Security came up with this on Wednesday a statement which states that during her trial she admitted that she had passed on state secrets “to an overseas authority via her mobile phone”, that she accepted her punishment and that she was sentenced to two years and eleven months in prison at the time.
Both Australia and China act as if this is a more or less normal legal procedure. According to the Chinese Ministry of State Security, she is now released quite simply because she has served her sentence. Albanese kept it a bit vaguer. He stated that the case had been “completed through the legal procedures in China.”
Yet it is more of a case of hostage diplomacy, in which China, in retaliation for an unwelcome action by another country, detains one or more citizens of that country, partly in the hope of being able to exert pressure on that country.
Also read China uses ‘the two Michaels’ as pawns in conflict over Huawei
Two Michaels
The best-known example of Chinese hostage diplomacy is that of the two Michaels: the Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. They were arrested in China after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou in 2018 at the request of the United States. Meng is the daughter of the founder of China’s Huawei, she is also the CFO of that technology giant. America suspected her of evading sanctions on Iran. On the same day that Meng was released and boarded a plane to China, the two Michaels also boarded a flight back to Canada.
Another Australian of Chinese descent is imprisoned in China: the writer and blogger Yang Hengjun. He has been in custody since 2019, also on charges of espionage. His health is said to have deteriorated badly recently. His case went to trial in 2021, but there has still been no ruling in that process.