Key points
- Australian journalist Cheng Lei will soon mark three years in custody in China.
- Her partner Nick Coyle says the imprisonment is "taking its toll".
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong wants progress on "Australians detained".
The ongoing uncertainty around Cheng Lei's imprisonment in China is "taking its toll" on her, partner Nick Coyle says, while her children were finding life "enormously difficult" in Australia without their mum.
The Chinese-born Australian journalist will mark three years in custody on 13 August, with her 19 July due date for a verdict .
"In theory, there could be a verdict … but to be honest, it hasn't happened so far, so I fully expect that it'll be extended another three months," Coyle told SBS News.
He said they have no idea what the future holds.
"She could be sentenced to time served and that's that, or it could be a number of years more, we just don't know."
while working as a news anchor for the Chinese government's English-language TV channel CGTN, and charged with "illegally supplying state secrets overseas".
Coyle said his partner of seven years was "strong and resilient" but that the uncertainty and separation from her children was becoming an increasing struggle.
"I've noticed in the last few months, especially … this ongoing uncertainty takes its toll, that's for sure. I think she just wants to know when this will be over…
"To not know when this nightmare will end is obviously not only really difficult for her, but I think it's quite unacceptable. People shouldn't be made to wait in limbo for this long."
China-born Australian citizen Cheng Lei has been detained in China since August 2020. Credit: Vaughn Ridley/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Ge
Cheng Lei 'focused on staying healthy'
Coyle said his partner's main concern was getting home to her children, who are 14 and 11 and were being looked after in Australia by their grandmother.
"They're okay … kids try to get on with life. But obviously, three years without their mum is enormously difficult. They certainly understand everything that's gone on, that's for sure."
Coyle said Cheng was focused on staying healthy physically and mentally, and had even maintained her sense of humour.
"It's difficult. She joked with me a while back that my Starbucks coffee probably covers the amount of money that gets spent on the in-house food for a week, so it's not great," he said.
"But she's a really strong, resilient sort of person.
"She wanted some more advanced yoga books and things like that. So I've sent those. And she focuses a lot on staying as healthy as she can."
Penny Wong highlights importance of 'Australians detained'
Last week Foreign Minister Penny Wong said a later this year hinged on progress "in relation to the Australians detained".
"I think China is well aware of the priority Australia places on movements there and that's why the prime minister and I have continued to raise those particular cases in our interactions with our counterparts," said Wong, after meeting with senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi at the ASEAN Foreign Minister's Summit in Jakarta.
Deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division Phil Robertson said Albanese should insist on Cheng's release before he goes to China.
"This is a case once again where Australian diplomacy is falling short. They should be speaking out loudly, they should basically be bringing in other allies and really putting pressure on the Chinese government to let this person go," he told SBS News.
"Media freedom is a central issue in China and this is a major case that indicates that once again, the Chinese government has no interest in respecting international human rights."
Coyle said while he didn't speak with Wong before the trip, he was in "pretty regular contact with her office" and said he believed the Albanese government was doing all it could.
"From her statement, she places an enormously high importance on Lei's case. I think everyone understands that it continues to be a serious impediment to bilateral relations getting back to normal…
"I'm sure that's something that Beijing understands as well, that fair-minded Australians and other people from all over the world who know about the situation look at it, and think that's completely unacceptable."
, a British-Australian academic imprisoned by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for 804 days, on Sunday implored Albanese not to travel to Beijing without assurances of Cheng's freedom.
While it's been three years since Coyle has seen Cheng's face or her heard her voice, he is in contact with her through the 30-minute consular visits that happen once a month.
"I get to write and then she can send messages …. the embassy will pick up a letter. She's generally allowed to write once a month, to immediate family and myself. So that's the extent of the contact. So this isn't like we can make a phone call or not. That hasn't happened in 35 months and counting."
Coyle said he was holding up okay.
"I'm not the one sitting in a box. It's difficult, but far more difficult on parents and children than it is on me. My job is just to support everyone as much as I can and ensure that we're raising this injustice as often as possible with the right people."
He said the irony was that Cheng was a big supporter of the bilateral relationship between Australia and China.
"She's somebody who was deeply passionate about the benefits of the bilateral relationship. So I'm sure she wants to see things improve as well. That I have no doubt."
also remains detained in China under secretive conditions after he was detained at Guangzhou Airport in January 2019 following a flight from New York. Chinese authorities charged him in 2021 with endangering national security by joining or accepting a mission from an unidentified espionage organisation.
He has denied working as a spy for Australia or the United States.
