Australia confirms journalist Cheng Lei will face Chinese court next week

Australia confirms journalist Cheng Lei will face Chinese court next week. 

According to Australia’s foreign minister, Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist who has been held in China for 19 months on state secrets charges, will appear in court next week.

Before being jailed in 2020, Cheng worked as a television anchor for Chinese state media. He was formally arrested a year ago on allegations of unlawfully leaking state secrets overseas.

In a statement released on Saturday, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Chinese authorities had informed Canberra that Cheng would be tried on Thursday. The anticipated trial was reported by Reuters and other media outlets on Friday, citing sources.

Following a consular arrangement between the two countries, Payne said her government had requested that Australian representatives be permitted to attend Cheng’s hearing.

“In conformity with international conventions, we expect basic principles of justice, procedural fairness, and humane treatment to be met,” Payne added.

According to two sources who spoke to Reuters earlier this week, Cheng will be tried at 9 a.m. next Thursday in Beijing’s No.2 People’s Intermediate Court.

Australia has already expressed worry about the case’s “lack of transparency,” Cheng’s family has stated that they believe she is innocent.

On Saturday, China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Cheng’s rights would be fully protected, according to the company.

Cheng was born in China but came to Australia with her parents when she was a child to pursue a career in television, first with CNBC and then as a television anchor for China’s English-language station CGTN.

The trial takes place as diplomatic tensions between Australia and China remain high, after Canberra’s call for an international investigation into the source of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and Beijing’s trade retaliation.