Australian TV presenter Cheng Lei arrested in China

The anchor of the Chinese government’s English Television Network, Australian Cheng Lei, has been detained.

Cheng Lei on the set of Global Business before she was detained.

Australian television presenter Cheng Lei has been detained in Beijing.

Cheng, the anchor of the Chinese government’s English Television Network, was arrested on August 14, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Monday night.

Cheng Lei.

“The Australian government has been informed that an Australian citizen, Ms Cheng Lei, has been detained in China,” Senator Payne said.

“Formal notification was received on 14 August, 2020, from Chinese authorities of her detention. Australian officials had an initial consular visit with Ms Cheng at a detention facility via video link on 27 August and will continue to provide assistance and support to her and her ­family.”

Describing herself on Twitter as a “Passionate orator of the #China story”, Cheng last tweeted on August 12.

#Shakeshack's first #Beijing store set to open in 12 hours' time…the staff are psyched! Loving the Beijing touches in food and decor. Opening ceremony will feature pedicabs and pesky Beijing uncles! Make shakes, not war pic.twitter.com/kkMZVZxw9r

— Cheng Lei (@ChengLeiCGTN) August 11, 2020

While Cheng hasn’t been charged, she has been placed in “residential surveillance at a designated location”, a form of detention where people can be imprisoned and questioned for six months without contact with their lawyers or the outside world.

In a statement, Cheng’s family said they were aware of her situation and asked for their privacy to be ­respected.

“We are in close consultation with DFAT and doing everything we can as a family to support Cheng Lei,” the family said.

“In China, due process will be observed and we look forward to a satisfactory and timely conclusion to the matter.

“We ask that you respect that process and understand there will be no further comment at this time.”

Cheng’s arrest has sent shockwaves through the tight-knit Australian community in Beijing.

She would often attend Australian social events in the city and was well known to Australians in the Chinese capital.

She hosted a function for the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Beijing last year.

Cheng’s profile page, detailing her eight-year career, has also been removed from CGTN’s website.

This is terrible news!” the BBC’s Beijing correspondent and former correspondent for the ABC in China Stephen McDonnell tweeted.

“Apart from being a top notch journalist (able to do solid stories even inside China’s massively flawed media), Cheng is an Australian of great character.”

This is terrible news! Apart from being a top notch journalist (able to do solid stories even inside #China’s massively flawed media) Cheng Lei is an Australian of great character, now held in a secret location in #Beijing without charge. #Australia https://t.co/wtNo2I1a65

— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) August 31, 2020

Cheng’s social media account on the popular Chinese microblogging site Weibo, as well as almost all her media footprints, have been removed.

A few remaining Chinese web pages reveal that Cheng was born in Yueyang, Hunan province, in 1975 and emigrated to Melbourne with her parents at the age of 10.

She left Australia to work for an Australian logistics company in China in late 2000, before making a career change to host a financial review program at China Central Television’s English channel in 2002.

In her starring media career, Cheng had interviewed hundreds of world politicians, economists and business leaders, including Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson.

She was a recipient of an Australia China Alumni Award in 2014 and became Australia’s Global Alumni Ambassador in 2016.

Additional reporting: Heidi Han