Cheng Lei’s large circle of friends went wild on Wednesday evening, when the news spread of her arrival home in Australia.
The reason for her release remains for now as mysterious as that for her incarceration for more than three long, lonely years.
Her closest friend and most assiduous supporter Nick Coyle flew swiftly down from Port Moresby, where he is working in a business venture, to Melbourne to greet her, as soon as he heard the good news.
This most welcome release reinforces the message of “stabilisation” that has comprised the core aim of the Albanese government in its relations with the People’s Republic of China.
It will be perceived as helping to clear the way for the long-trumpeted visit of Anthony Albanese to meet President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. It would have been difficult for him to do so if Lei had remained in prison.
Australian writer Yang Hengjun, however, is still in prison, for equally clouded reasons – and Australia’s political leaders and diplomats continue to lobby Beijing for his release.
Yet Lei’s plight awoke especially deep sympathy among many Australians, including because she has two young children – now aged 11 and 14 – who have not seen their mother since her sudden arrest in August 2020.
They have been living with Lei’s mother in Melbourne during her imprisonment, but have not been permitted direct contact with her during these years.
Lei’s friends have always known of her remarkable resilience and good humour, which have helped to see her through very dark hours in a grim Chinese jail.
Kevin Yam, the Australian commercial lawyer now living in Melbourne, who in July had a $HK1m ($190,000) bounty placed on his head by the Hong Kong government for violating the National Security Law there by his remarks made while in Australia, joined in celebrating her release on Wednesday night.
He told The Australian: “She and I moved to Australia within a year of each other as 10-year-olds (she in 1985, me in 1986). These two Melburnians both ended up being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.”
He said: “I am so thrilled she is free at last. May she and her family be able to move on and rebuild their lives. My prayers are with them as they embark on their journey ahead.”
Lei is an outstanding business journalist and TV host, and she will in time have no lack of offers for her to resume her career in Australia, should she choose to do so.
But first she will be catching up with her children, parents and other family members. Those lost lovely years of parenting can never be recouped, but she is certain to do her utmost to make up for that lost time.
Whether Lei was being held as a form of political hostage may never be clearly revealed, but the unanimity of Australian outrage about her detention may help ensure that if so, such a tactic is not repeated.
Her release will make the Prime Minister’s visit slightly smoother.
Yet awkwardnesses still remain in a relationship that will come under discussion with Mr Xi, including trade barriers such as against wine and some beef exports … and the fate of Yang Hengjun.
Rowan Callick is an industry fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute
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