‘China has tried to make Cheng disappear’: Campaign launched to free TV anchor

Colleagues and friends of Australian TV journalist Cheng Lei have made a plea to Beijing on the anniversary of her detention, warning they are concerned for the welfare of her young children and remain at a loss as to why she has been detained.

In three separate letters sent ahead of the anniversary on Friday, the National Press Clubs in Canberra and Washington, along with her former colleagues at Chinese state media network CGTN, have called for her immediate release and return home to Australia.

Australian journalist Cheng Lei.

Cheng, 46, has been kept in a cell at a detention facility in China with limited fresh air and natural light and has been masked, blindfolded and restrained in meetings with Australian consular officials.

The Chinese-born Melbourne mother of two was detained on August 13 last year on suspicion of illegally communicating state secrets overseas. The exact nature of the claims remains unknown and her family has always maintained her innocence.

Cheng’s friend, Lucy Hornby, a former China correspondent, said Cheng is a fair and professional reporter. “[She] is a nice person who doesn’t deserve this,” she said.

In the weeks leading up to her arrest, Cheng had become increasingly critical of the Chinese Communist Party’s handling of the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in a series of posts on Facebook. The arrest of the University of Queensland graduate coincided with a sharp deterioration in Australia-China relations over national security and human rights disputes. The diplomatic breakdown has left the Australian government unable to lobby for her release at a ministerial level.

“We are concerned about the wellbeing of her beloved children, aged 10 and 12,” the letter from 59 friends, colleagues and prominent journalists said. “We are concerned about the chilling affect her arrest has on the practice of journalism, which has never been more critical.”

The letter was also signed by the UNESCO chair in journalism Peter Greste, and her former colleague CGTN colleagues Tadek Markowski and now Sky News Washington correspondent Annelise Nielsen.

US National Press Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews and Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling said Cheng’s year-long detention was an assault on journalism and on human rights.

“Her children have been living with their grandmother in Australia without knowing if they will ever be reunited with their mother,” they said.

“China has tried to make Cheng disappear, but the world has not forgotten about her or the several dozen other reporters unjustly jailed in China”.

Maurice Reilly, the chief executive of the National Press Club in Canberra, said the club’s board feared for Cheng’s health, safety and security.

“This makes her one of many journalists detained in China at the same time the Chinese government expels foreign correspondents or denies them entry to the country, suppressing press freedom,” he said.

China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said Chinese judicial authorities would protect her legal rights in a country with a conviction rate of 99 per cent.

Fellow Chinese-Australian Yang Hengjun is still awaiting sentencing on national security charges after he stood trial in a closed-door hearing in May, more than two years after he was initially detained.

“China’s judicial authorities have been dealing with cases independently and the rights of the person involved are fully protected,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said after Cheng was formally arrested.

“We hope the Australian side will respect China’s judicial sovereignty and stop interfering in China’s handling of cases in accordance with law in any form.”

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