After three years, China releases Australian journalist Cheng Lei

After more than three years in custody, China has freed Australian journalist Cheng Lei, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated on Wednesday, adding that she has returned to Melbourne. The reporter was “delighted” to be returning home, Albanese said, adding that “the Australian people very much wanted to see Cheng Lei reunited with her young kids.”

Former CGTN anchor Cheng has been in detention since August 2020, although she wasn’t really arrested until February 2021. Although she was officially accused of “supplying state secrets overseas,” no more information was provided.

Even the Australian ambassador to China was denied access to the courtroom so that Cheng could only be tried behind closed doors. In a direct communication transcribed from behind bars to Australian authorities and published in August, she had written about the appalling circumstances in prison. The message, which was referred to as a “love letter” to Australia, said, “I miss the sun.” “The sun shines through the window in my cell, but I can only stand in it for 10 hours a year.”

According to Albanese, she was freed after “the completion of legal processes in China.” Cheng’s situation has caused Canberra and Beijing to seriously disagree. According to Albanese, Cheng’s release will make it easier for him to visit China later this year. After the Australian government denied lucrative contracts to the Chinese tech company Huawei and retaliated against Chinese influence operations in Australia, relations between the two countries had reached an impasse.

China was also incensed by Canberra’s requests for an inquiry into the causes of the Covid-19 epidemic, which claimed millions of lives and sent the global economy into a protracted crisis. In reaction, China imposed a broad range of de facto penalties against Australian goods, which have been gradually lifted as the two countries’ relations have warmed.