BEIJING (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - Australia’s foreign minister on Saturday (March 26) confirmed that Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist who has been detained in China for 19 months over state secrets accusations, will face court next week.
Cheng, who worked as a television anchor for Chinese state media before being detained in 2020, was formally arrested a year ago on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement on Saturday that Chinese authorities had notified Canberra Cheng would face trial next Thursday. Reuters and other media on Friday reported the scheduled trial, citing sources.
Payne said her ministry had asked that Australian officials be allowed to attend Cheng’s hearing in line with a consular agreement between the two nations.
“We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms,” Payne said.
Cheng will be tried in the Beijing No.2 People’s Intermediate Court at 9am next Thursday, two sources told Reuters earlier this week.
Australia has previously said it was concerned by what it said was a “lack of transparency” over the case, and Cheng’s family have said they are convinced she is innocent.
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on Saturday. It has previously said that Cheng’s rights would be fully guaranteed.
Cheng was born in China but moved with her parents to Australia as a child, before building a television career in China first with CNBC and later as a television anchor for China’s English-language channel CGTN.
Cheng was formally arrested in China on Feb 5 last year after six months of detention, and was initially denied access to lawyers. China said in September 2020 that Cheng was "suspected of carrying out criminal activities endangering China's national security", among the most serious allegations ever brought against a foreign journalist based in the country.
China's Foreign Ministry later said that judicial authorities had concluded Cheng "conducted illegal activities on supplying state secrets overseas" and approved her arrest.
Ms Payne said last year that Australian embassy officials have visited Cheng since her detention and Canberra has raised "serious concerns" about her case at senior levels.
Cheng's case came to light amid deteriorating relations between China and Australia, sparking fears Beijing had targeted Cheng to exert pressure on Canberra.
Tensions were high after Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government called for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus, a move seen in China as backing former US president Donald Trump's efforts to blame it for the pandemic.
Last year, two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, were released from China after being detained for more than 1,000 days on spying charges. Their release came hours after a top Huawei Technologies executive was released from extradition proceeding in Canada. Beijing and the White House denied the two cases were connected.
