Key Points
- Australian journalist Cheng Lei has returned to Australia.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says her case was resolved through China's legal system.
- Cheng was in detention for more than three years.
Cheng Lei's ordeal is over after the Australian journalist was finally released by Chinese authorities and reunited with her family.
while working as a news anchor for the Chinese government's English-language TV channel CGTN, and charged with "illegally supplying state secrets overseas".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed Foreign Minister Penny Wong met Cheng in Melbourne, where she was reunited with her two children and family on Wednesday morning.
Wong pictured greeting Cheng Lei at Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne. Credit: Sarah Hodges
"When I spoke with her she was delighted to be back in Melbourne.
"The government has been seeking this for a long period of time, and her return will be warmly welcomed not just by her family and friends but by all Australians."
Albanese said he had spoken to Cheng personally to welcome her home, and the government would continue to provide consular support to her and her family.
"Our focus remains on her interests and welfare, and we are asking for her privacy and that of her family be respected at this time as she adjusts to what has obviously been a very difficult and traumatic period for her in her life," he said.
Albanese says the case was a key point of discussions in talks with China. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Cheng case resolved through 'legal processes in China': PM
Cheng was detained under China's powerful security laws, which allow authorities to keep a person secretly in detention for six months without charge.
Australian officials’ contact with Cheng was limited in recent years, and her case sparked outcry from multiple human rights groups.
Her detention was a key friction point between Canberra and Beijing, though relations between the two countries have improved over the past year.
Albanese confirmed her case had been "the subject of ongoing discussions" between China and Australia.
"Her matter was concluded through the legal processes in China," he said.
"This is something that we have advocated for a long period of time … I pay tribute to all who have made representations, both on the political level whenever we have met with our Chinese counterparts."
In 2021, former foreign minister Marise Payne revealed Cheng had been formally arrested on suspicion of spying and relaying state secrets to foreign powers.
Coalition, Amnesty International welcome release
Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham acknowledged the work conducted by the current government, and Payne, to secure Cheng's release.
"After three years of uncertainty, secrecy and zero transparency we are thankful this painful episode for Ms Cheng and her family has come to a welcome end," he said.
"The Opposiiton remains deeply concerned for Australian Dr Yang Hengjun, who continues to be detained in China, and urges the Albanese government to use all available diplomatic means to equally secure his return and to ensure his wellbeing."
Simon Birmingham has welcomed the news. Source: AAP
"She has suffered these last three years and at Amnesty we've been really concerned about her health and about the conditions of her detention," White told SBS News.
"There is a lot of trauma that people suffer from, from being detained in these conditions, from being separated from their children as Cheng Lei was."
White said Amnesty remained concerned about arbitrary detention in China, including of dual nationals like Australian Yang, who is facing a lengthy jail sentence after Chinese authorities charged him in 2020 with endangering national security.
"He faces unfair, trumped-up charges," White said.
"So this isn't the end, but it is a really positive step forward for Australia and for I think people who are concerned about human rights in China to see that this approach by the government is working."
Federal president of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance's media section Karen Percy said the union was celebrating.
"Today is not a time for recriminations but for celebration that justice has finally been done," she said.
"We have always believed that the charges against her had no substance and that if due legal process was followed, she would be found innocent."
