Australian government must act urgently on detention of journalist Cheng Lei in China
On 14 August Australian journalist Cheng Lei was placed in detention in China. In the midst of political tensions between the two nations, Tony Walker calls upon the government to do everything it can to secure her release in this crossposting from The Conversation.
When it seemed relations between Australia and China could not get much worse, the detention of an Australian citizen working for Chinese state television risks a further deterioration.
It is not yet clear why China Global Television Network (CGTN) anchor Cheng Lei was taken into custody, but her case could hardly come at a more awkward moment for Canberra as it seeks to manage a jarring relationship with Beijing.
Cheng Lei in a video championing the Australian government’s Global Alumni Engagement Strategy Australia Global Alumni, CC BY
Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed in a brief statement that Australia had been notified on August 14 of Cheng’s detention. Payne’s statement did not reveal whether the Australian government had been told why the CGTN journalist was being detained.
