Call for China to free Aussie journo Cheng Lei crosses party lines

Coalition and Labor luminaries have signed an open letter calling for the Chinese government to release Australian Cheng Lei from her Beijing prison cell.

Australian journalist Cheng Lei in Beijing. Picture: DFAT

Former prime minister John Howard, former Liberal foreign minister Alexander Downer and former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans have joined members of the Albanese government and federal opposition in calling for Beijing to release Australian journalist Cheng Lei.

Influential business figures also signed the open letter published in The Australian on Friday, joining senior members from across Australian media and some of the country’s most influential security and foreign policy experts, revealing the wide support for Ms Cheng.

“We write out of deep concern for the rights, health, and wellbeing of Australian journalist Ms Cheng Lei to urge the Government of the People’s Republic of China to authorise the relevant legal authority to release her from detention and allow her to return to her home and family in Australia,” the distinguished Australians write.

They note the “chilling effect” the imprisonment of the mother-of-two has had on relations between Australia and China.

The former anchor on China’s English-language state broadcaster CGTN was tried in a one-day, closed trial in Beijing on vague charges of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”.

Australia’s ambassador in China was denied entry to the hearing. Following that, Beijing ended access to her monthly consular visits from Australian diplomats for more than two months, citing Covid precautions.

The 47-year-old has not been allowed to speak to her children once since she was arrested in August 2020, almost 700 days ago.

The signatories include Peter Khalil, the Labor member for Wills and a former national security adviser to Kevin Rudd, Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson, head of the global engagement committee of the Business Council of Australia Warwick Smith and the former executive chairman of Rothschild Trevor Rowe.

Among other signatories are ABC hosts Stan Grant and Patricia Karvelas, Australian Financial Review columnist Jennifer Hewett, Nine political editor Chris Uhlmann, The Australian’s editor-at-large Paul Kelly and former China correspondent Rowan Callick.