Cheng Lei: Chinese-born Australian journalist put on closed-door trial for spying

Australia has raised concerns over the trial’s validity as it was conducted behind closed doors

Cheng Lie was arrested in 2020 for allegedly supplying state secrets overseas (AP)

A Beijing court has carried out a closed-door trial of an Australian journalist and former TV anchor under heavy security, raising eyebrows over its validity.

Cheng Lie, a Chinese-born journalist who lived in Australia, was first detained in 2020 and then later formally arrested in 2021 on allegations of spying and providing state secrets to a foreign country.

Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne said Thursday morning’s hearing concluded with the court deferring its verdict to a yet-to-be scheduled date.

Australia, which is in a diplomatic row with China, said its embassy officials were not allowed to enter the No 2 People’s Intermediate Court, with police officers citing national security laws.

“This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable. We can have no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret,” Graham Fletcher, Australia’s envoy to China, told journalists after being barred from the proceedings after attempting to enter the court.

“Our consular agreement says that we ought to be able to attend trials,” he said before leaving.

Not much is known about the exact charges levied on Cheng and nature of her alleged offence.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin urged Australia to not interfere in China’s judicial system and said that a verdict would be announced “at a scheduled date”.

“We urge the Australian side to earnestly respect China’s judicial sovereignty and refrain from interfering in the handling of cases by the Chinese judicial authorities in any form,” Mr Wang told a regular daily briefing.

A heavy police contingent in plane clothes and other security personnel were deployed outside the court where Cheng was brought for trail.

A number of journalists were present at the premises, but were barred from going in by the personnel who checked IDs and took videos of those who gathered outside.

Chinese officials said trials involving state secrets are not open to the public.

“The defendant is suspected of the crime of illegally providing state secrets to a foreign country, which is a case involving state secrets and is not handled openly, so is not open to visitors,” a court official told Mr Fletcher.

Cheng was born in China but moved with her parents to Australia when she was a child. She returned to China where she built a television career by working with CNBC first in 2003.

She became a prominent business news anchor for China’s English-language CGTN in 2012.

Her family denies the allegations and is convinced she is innocent.

Canberra, whose diplomats are following the case and are in touch with Cheng, had earlier raised concerns over her welfare and conditions of detention on 21 March.

The officials have called for “basic standards of justice” to be met.

Mr Fletcher, however, provided an update on Cheng, saying she is now “doing okay”. It was previously reported that she had fallen ill in detention.

He added that a request has been made for Cheng to allow her to speak to her children. “They haven’t had any contact with their mother since the detention,” he said.

“Her two children and elderly parents miss her immensely and sincerely hope to reunite with her as soon as possible,” her family said in a statement.

According to China Justice Observer, a local web site tracking judiciary, Chinese courts have a conviction rate of 99 per cent.

The trial comes as Australia’s relationship with China nosedived after the former pushed for an international probe into the origins of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and the latter responded with trade reprisals.

Prime minister Scott Morrison also joined the AUKUS trilateral security pact to develop nuclear submarines with the UK and US and counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific.