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Beijing (AFP)
China declined on Tuesday to reveal why an Australian journalist working as a state television host has been detained for at least two weeks without charge.
Cheng Lei, host of CGTN, China’s English-speaking state broadcaster, has been detained since at least August 14, but Australian diplomats say Beijing has given no reason for her detention.
His case is the latest to refute relations between the two countries that have been withered by trade, security concerns over Chinese technology and Canberra’s push for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cheng has not been seen in public since she was detained, although Australian envoys in Beijing were able to speak with her on August 27.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing rejected questions about the fate of the Chinese-born journalist, who enjoyed a high profile as a CGTN business news anchor.
“I cannot give you any details,” Hua Chunying told reporters.
“But you know that China is a country governed by law … we will handle things according to the law.”
It is feared that Cheng could face a prolonged period of detention after Australian media reports said he was under “residential surveillance”.
“Our concerns for Ms Cheng are genuine and real,” Simon Birmingham, Australia’s Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment, told ABC News on Tuesday.
Free media advocates also asked for full information on her case.
The Chinese authorities should “reveal their reasons for holding her” or “release her immediately,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists, calling China “the world’s leading jailer of journalists.”
– Big meat –
The arrest of Cheng, who interviewed international CEOs for CGTN’s Global Business and BizTalk programs, has also caused a stir in China’s foreign journalist community.
While the cause of his arrest remains a mystery, he has written several Facebook posts criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government’s approach to the COVID-19 outbreak.
One post mocked Xi’s March visit to Wuhan, the ground zero of the coronavirus: “Today’s big story, the visit of the beloved leader, drew laughter in the newsroom, saluting a big television screen showing that the coronavirus hospital in Wuhan apparently amounts to one visit. “
“In China … ‘serve the people’ say the slogans [sic]… [the] the reality is the opposite, “he wrote.
Cheng also praised on Facebook a censored interview with doctor Ai Fen, who raised an early warning about the new virus in Wuhan.
She has also spoken openly about domestic violence, including at a UN Women China event in Beijing last year.
China has stepped up its rhetoric against Australia since Canberra called for an investigation into the outbreak.
A senior envoy from Beijing last week compared the momentum of a global investigation to Brutus’ betrayal of Julius Ceasar, noting the “outrage, anger and frustration” felt by China in Australia.
China has also been angered by Australia’s invocation of national security as a motive for investigations into foreign interference in its universities.
It has been accused of retaliating with a litany of trade measures including investigations into alleged dumping of Australian wines, suspension of beef imports and warnings to its citizens against traveling to Australia.
Such acts conform to a pattern of “coercive diplomacy”, according to a report by the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy (ASPI).
Cheng is the second high-profile Australian citizen to be detained in Beijing after writer Yang Hengjun was arrested in January 2019 on suspicion of espionage.
Earlier this year, Australia warned its citizens that they faced the risk of arbitrary detention if they traveled to China.
AFP tried to reach Cheng via WeChat and got no response.
His biography page has been removed from the CGTN website.
But she is known to have two young children, both of whom are believed to be currently in Melbourne.
“It’s really warm, very bright … very generous,” a friend of Cheng’s told AFP, requesting anonymity.
© 2020 AFP
