China officially arrests Australian TV anchor on espionage charges

China has officially arrested a Chinese-born Australian journalist for CGTN, China Central Television’s English-language channel, on suspicion of illegally providing overseas state secrets, Australia’s foreign minister said on Monday. Cheng Lei’s arrest last Friday begins a formal criminal investigation and took place six months after she was detained.

“The Australian government has expressed serious concerns about Ms. Cheng’s regular detention at higher levels, including her well-being and conditions of detention,” said Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

“We expect the basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and human treatment to be met in accordance with international standards,” she added.

China’s foreign ministry confirmed Cheng’s arrest and said his legal rights were “fully guaranteed.”

“We hope that Australia will seriously respect China’s judicial sovereignty and refrain from intervening in any way in dealing with cases based on Chinese law,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a daily briefing.

The charges, which could lead to life imprisonment or even death, are extremely unusual for an employee of a Chinese Communist Party-controlled media. British media watchdog Ofcom last week removed CGTN from its UK broadcasting license due to a lack of editorial control and is investigating complaints that it has forcibly confessed to suspects involved in political cases.

The worsening of bilateral relations since Australia called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic is suspected to be the cause of Cheng’s arrest.

Cheng’s two children, ages 9 and 11, live with their grandmother in Melbourne, Australia, said the journalist’s niece, Louisa Wen.

“I feel like the kids don’t fully understand the situation, so it’s probably pretty hard for the kids to wonder what’s going on,” Wen said. “Every time we do something fun, we think about it and how she can’t enjoy these things with us.”

Geoff Raby, executive director of a Beijing-based business consulting firm, said Cheng has been his friend since he was Australia’s ambassador to China for four years, ending in 2011.

“He knows how the system works. He’s very, very knowledgeable and experienced, and this episode seems pretty amazing to me,” Raby told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

One month before Cheng was detained on August 13, Australia warned its citizens of the risk of arbitrary detention in China. China has rejected the warning as misinformation.

Before the last two journalists working for the Australian media in China left the country in September, they were questioned by Chinese authorities about Cheng.

Reporter Australian Broadcasting Corp. Bill Birtles and Michael Smith’s The Australian Financial Review were told they were “people of interest” in an investigation into Cheng.

“I think the episode was more of a harassment of other Australian journalists than a real effort to try to get something useful for this case,” Birtles said after returning to Sydney.

Australia has criticized China for accusing Chinese-Australian novelist Yang Hengjun of spying. He has been detained since January 2019.

Australian Karm Gilespie was sentenced to death in China last year, seven years after he was arrested and charged with attempting to board an international flight with more than 7.5 kilograms (16.5 kilograms) of methamphetamine. Some observers suspect that such a severe punishment, long after the murder, was linked to the bilateral rupture.

Cheng was an anchor for CGTN’s BizAsia program. He was born in China and worked in finance in Australia before returning to China and began a career in journalism with CCTV in Beijing in 2003.