“Chinese authorities have reported that Ms. Cheng has been arrested on suspicion of illegally providing state secrets abroad,” Payne said, adding that “the Australian government has expressed serious concerns about Ms. Cheng’s detention on a regular basis. including welfare and conditions of detention. ”
Cheng was a business anchor on CGTN, the international arm of China’s state-run CCTV broadcaster, which has since removed all of its references from its website and social media.
In his spare time, Cheng worked in the Australian community in Beijing, attending events at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and acting as a “graduate ambassador” for the country’s embassy.
Her last post on WeChat, the Chinese social networking app, showed her at the opening of a Shake Shack store in Beijing on August 12, the first restaurant opened in China by the American chain. Posing in a bright green dress, Cheng subtitled the photos with the hashtag “make shakes not war”.
Asked about Cheng’s detention last year, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “China is a country under the rule of law and we will act in accordance with the law.”
Cheng’s initial detention came amid a rapidly deteriorating connection between Canberra and Beijing. After Australia called for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, China focused on trade, paying tariffed products and blocking purchases by Australian companies.
Bill Birtles, a Beijing correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Mike Smith, a Shanghai correspondent for the Australian Financial Review (AFR), were told they were “people of interest in an investigation” into Cheng. Both sought the protection of consular officials and finally managed to fly out of China after a 5-day diplomatic confrontation.
“I don’t think he did anything to intentionally affect national security in any way,” Louisa Wen, Cheng’s niece and the family’s spokeswoman, told ABC. “We don’t know if she was just caught by something she didn’t realize herself.”