Australian reporter held in China for ‘supplying state secrets’

BEIJING (BBC): An Australian journalist has been formally arrested in China after six months of detention on “suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.” Australian embassy officials have visited Cheng Lei six times since she was detained mid-August 2020, most recently on Jan 27.
Cheng was formally arrested on February 5 and is locked in a cell without fresh air or natural light, has been interrogated multiple times, with restrictions tightening on her ability to exercise and write letters, according to Australian Broadcasting Corp, which spoke with her family in Australia. “The Australian government has raised its serious concerns about Ms Cheng’s detention regularly at senior levels, including about her welfare and conditions of detention,” Marise Payne, Australia’s foreign minister, said in a statement Monday.
Chinese authorities, who formally arrested her on Saturday, have released little information publicly about her case. China’s legal and judicial system, controlled by the ruling Communist Party, can be very opaque. Cheng is a high-profile business anchor for CGTN, an English-language channel under China’s state broadcaster.
She had written a number of Facebook posts critical of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Beijing’s approach to the coronavirus outbreak. One post poked fun at Mr Xi’s visit in March to Wuhan, the Covid-19 ground zero: “The big story today, Dear Leader’s visit, triggered titters in the newsroom – waving to a big TV screen showing the coronavirus hospital in Wuhan apparently equals a visit.” Diplomatic relations between China and Australia have significantly deteriorated in recent years, as the two nations clashed over issues ranging espionage to trade. Last April, Beijing bristled at Canberra’s calls for an international investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the days after Ms Cheng’s detention became public, two other Australian journalists – Bill Birtles with the Australian Broadcasting Corp and Michael Smith with the Australian Financial Review – were rushed out of China. Chinese state security officers had visited Birtles and Smith late one night at their homes in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively, informing them they were not allowed to leave the country and that they needed to be interrogated in connection with an alleged national security investigation. The two journalists sought diplomatic protection as Chinese and Australian officials negotiated; eventually they were allowed to leave the country after being subjected to questioning. Australian news organisations no longer have any correspondents based in China.
China has long sought to use hostage diplomacy to pressure countries. In Dec 2019, two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, were disappeared and continue to be detained in China. Beijing is furious with Ottawa for its arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on an extradition request from the US.