Australian journalist Cheng Lei released from Chinese detention

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Australian journalist Cheng Lei has returned to Melbourne after more than three years of detention in China, in a diplomatic coup for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that underscores recent improving ties between Beijing and Canberra.

Cheng, an Australian citizen, had worked as a news anchor for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN for more than a decade when she was detained by Chinese security officials in August 2020.

Albanese said her release followed meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of last year’s G20 summit in Bali and with Premier Li Qiang at an Asean summit in Jakarta last month. 

“Her return brings an end to a very difficult few years for Ms Cheng and her family,” the prime minister told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the journalist had been reunited with her two children.

In March last year, Cheng appeared in a Beijing court to face accusations of supplying state secrets overseas. Her trial was held behind closed doors and the court deferred its verdict. Canberra’s ambassador to Beijing was denied entry to the hearing.

However, China’s Ministry of State Security said in a statement on Wednesday that Cheng, now 45, had been sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison, and to deportation. It added that Cheng had confessed to sending state secrets overseas after being “coaxed” by a foreign organisation.

For much of the past three years, little information was made public about Cheng’s condition or her access to legal and diplomatic support. Her detention took place against a backdrop of strained ties between Canberra and Beijing, particularly under Albanese’s predecessor Scott Morrison.

The case, coupled with China’s arrest of two Canadian citizens in late 2018 following the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, sparked fears of emerging hostage diplomacy under Xi’s administration.

The Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun was arrested in January 2019 and charged with espionage. Albanese said on Wednesday that his government continued to advocate for Yang.

Cheng’s case drew renewed attention in August after a letter dictated to an Australian diplomat was released detailing the difficult conditions she faced in prison, including that she had not “seen a tree in three years”.

Her release followed Chinese moves in recent months to ease trade restrictions on crucial Australian exports including coal and barley as ties thawed.

In an olive branch to Beijing, Albanese on Wednesday said Cheng’s release “follows the completion of legal processes in China”.

Sino-Australian relations became increasingly fraught during the coronavirus pandemic as Canberra called for a probe into the origins of Covid-19 and introduced tougher laws against foreign interference in Australian domestic affairs and politics.

Canberra also entered into the Aukus trilateral defence partnership with the US and UK. In April Australia unveiled the biggest strategic shift in its military posture since the second world war to adapt to China’s military build-up in the region.