‘Shooting themselves in the foot’: Cheng Lei the focus after security bid to keep her from view

Journalist Cheng Lei says moves by Chinese officials to block her from view during Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit reflects Beijing’s attempt to exert ‘utter control’.

Cheng Lei is obstructed by Chinese officials at a press conference in Canberra on Monday. Picture: The Daily Telegraph

Journalist Cheng Lei says ­attempts by Chinese officials to block her from view during a joint press event with Anthony Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang reflected Beijing’s attempt to exert “utter control”.

Chinese political aides repeatedly manoeuvred themselves to obscure Cheng from the view of news cameras during a signing ceremony at Parliament House on Monday, in a scene that marred Mr Li’s visit to Canberra.

The Sky News Australia host, who was released from a Chinese prison in 2023 where she was held for three years on spurious security charges, said the incident was not surprising but ultimately the officials had “shot themselves in the foot”.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s actually not that surprising the way they behave, because this is what trying to have utter control actually does,” she told The Australian.

Amid an increasingly fractious atmosphere as human rights protesters tussled with supporters waving red flags on the parliamentary lawn under the eyes of a large police contingent, the Prime Minister declined to condemn the conduct of Chinese officials. 

“I didn’t see it, but I saw Cheng Lei and we smiled at each other during the event,” Mr Albanese said. “I’m not aware of those issues and it is important that people be allowed to participate fully, and that is what should happen in this building, or anywhere else in Australia.”

Cheng is obstructed by Chinese officials. Picture: The Daily Telegraph

Video of the incident shows a man in a blue suit and a woman in a brown coat repeatedly shifting in an attempt to prevent Cheng from being captured by TV cameras.

Cheng said she was sympathetic that Mr Albanese was not aware of what unfolded due to his packed schedule, adding that she did not wish to be a “sideshow” from the diplomatic visit which could mark a reset of the Australia-China relationship.

The veteran broadcaster said Mr Li’s visit was a significant event and Chinese officials were under pressure to ensure it went ­smoothly.

“One, they don’t want me to be in the shot for the evening news, because I was sitting behind the Chinese ministers,” she said.

“And two, they are afraid that I might do something to sow discord, to disrupt what they would tout as a grand success, and all they care about is keeping their jobs and career security, and to do that, they have to enforce control.

“That’s the sad fact. So I feel sorry for them.”

Tensions also flared on the lawns outside parliament where about 500 Tibetans, Uighurs and Falun Gong protesters drowned out a roughly equal number of “patriotic” Chinese bussed in to welcome Mr Li, with the rival groups separated by barriers.

Police arrested one protester for a “breach of the peace”.

China supporters and anti-China protesters outside Parliament House in Canberra on Monday. Picture: AAP

Among the crowd was journalist Vicky Xu, who criticised police for confiscating a Chinese Communist Party flag from a fellow protester when he attempted to burn it, alleging that officers had “brutalised” her friend and she was “shoved around and thrown down”.

“Yet the police insisted on confiscating his flag – which they did not have a right to – and when my friend refused, the police tried to take the flag by force,” she wrote on social media.

Xu recently revealed she and prominent China critic Drew ­Pavlou had been told by the AFP that they were suspected targets of a foreign interference operation.

The pair said police had urged them to vary their routine to avoid becoming a predictable target when they shared details of the investigation into the ­attempt by foreign agents to find his address.