Cheng Lei, a Chinese-Australian journalist, has been detained in China for over two and a half years on national security charges. Despite facing a closed-door trial in Beijing on March 31, 2022, Cheng has yet to receive a verdict or sentence. Australian diplomats were not allowed to attend the proceedings against Cheng, despite an agreement between Canberra and Beijing that is supposed to allow consular access to Australian citizens.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressed “deep concerns” over the delays in Cheng’s case and the lack of access to consular services. Wong stated that the Australian government has consistently advocated for Cheng to be reunited with her family in Melbourne and “afforded basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment in accordance with international norms.”
Cheng was detained by authorities in August 2020 and formally arrested six months later on suspicion of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas.” Press freedom groups have condemned Cheng’s detention and called for her immediate release.
This is not the first time that Australia has expressed concerns over the treatment of its citizens in China. In January, Wong expressed similar concerns about the prosecution of Chinese-Australian writer and blogger Yang Hengjun, who has been detained in China on national security charges since 2019.
Beijing has rejected accusations of improper treatment of Australian citizens and called on Canberra to respect its “judicial sovereignty.” The cases of Cheng and Yang are among a number of disputes that have strained relations between Australia and China in recent years.
Tensions between the two sides have eased somewhat since the election of the centre-left Labor Party in May ended nearly a decade of conservative rule. China recently accepted shipments of Australian coal for the first time in more than two years. However, the cases of Cheng and Yang continue to be a source of tension between the two countries.