The Chinese government has formally charged Australian journalist Cheng Lei with “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”, almost half a year after she was first detained, reports ABC News.

Lei has been held since August last year under a form of detention that allows Chinese police to imprison and question a suspect for up to six months without access to lawyers.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Chinese authorities advised Australia late last week that they had formally charged Lei, meaning an official investigation into her conduct would now begin.

“We have consistently raised concerns [about Cheng Lei] regularly at the most senior levels,” Payne said.

“We have made a number of consular visits to her as part of our bilateral consular agreement – the most recent of those was on the 27th of January – and we continue to seek assurances of her being treated appropriately, humanely and in accordance with international standards, and that will continue to be the case.”

Lei was working as a high profile anchor for China’s state-run English language news service CGTN.

Payne said the charges against Lei were “broad” and she expected the investigation to continue for months.

When asked if the Australian government believed the allegations against Lei were baseless, she said Australia was “seeking further advice in relation to the charges”.

Lei has two young children living with her family in Melbourne.

Last year, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Lei was “suspected of carrying out criminal activities endangering China’s national security”, but did not provide any further details.

In September, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media freedom watchdog and other press freedom groups urged the release of Cheng Lei, who had been detained incommunicado and without charge since 14 August 2020.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. Pacific Media Watch collaborates with Reporters Without Borders.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Brisbane-based Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom calls for Chinese authorities to provide due process to Australian television journalist Cheng Lei and release her immediately pending any judicial proceedings – in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which China has signed).

It has also called on the authorities in China to ensure that any judicial
proceedings follow due process, reports the AJF.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed that her department had been
told on August 14 of Cheng’s detention in Beijing.

According to the ABC, she is being held under what is known as “residential surveillance at a designated location”.

In effect, she has been imprisoned without charge and under Chinese law could remain there for up to six months without access to lawyers or her family.

AJF spokesman Professor Peter Greste said: “We are deeply troubled by Cheng Lei’s unjustified detention. Nothing in her life suggests she is a spy, a terrorist or a criminal of any sort.

“In the absence of evidence, the only conclusion we can come to is that she is being used as a hostage in a wider diplomatic spat between Australia and China, or perhaps because of
some critical comments she may have made.

‘Simply unacceptable’
“Either way, it is simply unacceptable.

“Her detention without charge sends a very clear message to the rest of the world and
the media community in particular – that China has little respect for the role of journalists
in public debate and seems willing to use high profile figures for political and diplomatic
leverage.”

Cheng was born in China but grew up in Australia and studied at the University of
Queensland. For the past eight years, she has worked as an on-air anchor and reporter for
the English-language TV news service, CGTN.

Since her detention, her profile has disappeared from the network’s website and her videos have been taken down.

In a video released by the Australian Global Alumni, an international relations initiative by
the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Cheng said: “The beauty of an Australian
education is more about what it doesn’t teach.

“It doesn’t teach you to just follow orders.

‘Freedom to think’
“It allows you that freedom to think for yourself, to question even textbooks, even
professors, to judge for yourself, which is critical in journalism.”

The AJF believes that a free, vibrant media benefits everyone apart from those with
things to hide, and is fundamental to any functioning society regardless of its political
system.

The AJF campaigns for legislative reform and the freedom of journalists across
the Asia-Pacific region.

In Auckland, Pacific Media Watch convenor Professor David Robie said the detention of high profile Australian television anchor Cheng Lei sent a “chilling” message to journalists in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific over the lengths China was prepared to go to silence dissent.

Lei is reported to have authored or shared Facebook posts in February critical of the cover-up of the Wuhan covid-19 outbreak.

However, working for the state-run global network CGTN her reports have generally been regarded as celebratory of Chinese achievements and commentators have described her as an important “media bridge” between Australia and China.

“While citizen journalists regarded as critics were arrested earlier in the year, this latest move represents an attack on a major media icon highly respected in Australia and China for her work,” said Dr Robie.

“It is a reprehensible act. She should be allowed legal assistance and she must be released.”

Dr Robie said it was also a worrying development for Pacific journalists in the wake of behind-the-scenes efforts at censorship of sensitive information, especially at the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Port Moresby in late 2018.

Professor Peter Greste is a director of the AJF and is UNESCO chair in journalism
and communication at the University of Queensland.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz