Do Not Be ‘Naive’ About the Risks of Travelling in China: Freed Journalist

Australian journalist Cheng Lei is seen in Beijing, China, in this still image taken from undated video footage. Australia Global Alumni-Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/Handout via Reuters

Journalist Cheng Lei has warned Australians to be wary of the risks involved in travelling to China.

Speaking on ABC’s Q+A Program on Nov. 27, Ms. Cheng said prospective travellers must take into account the rapidly transforming diplomatic and political landscapes in the Asian nation.

“I think you have to figure out what to be mindful of. Right now, I’m super wary of anything purporting to be protecting national interests, national security I should say,” she said.

Ms. Cheng is particularly worried about travellers venturing to China who don’t quite understand the gravity of what they’re doing.

“I don’t want naive people going there. If you’re going there, be fully educated about the risks. It’s a complex question. It’s a huge country that I have very mixed feelings about,” she said.

“If people want to improve their Mandarin, they could go to Taiwan.”

Imprisoned for 3 Years

Ms. Cheng was working at CGTN—China’s state-owned English-language news channel headquartered in Beijing—in August 2020 when she was detained and then jailed under mandates from Chinese authorities who said she was suspected of carrying out criminal activities endangering national security.

Ms. Cheng’s detainment was widely surmised to be an instance of hostage diplomacy—the taking of hostages for diplomatic leverage—given its occurrence amid the height of an ongoing Sino-Australian trade war.

Parallels were drawn between Ms. Cheng’s detention and that of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by the Chinese regime after the Canadian government arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018.

In February 2021, the then Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne announced that Ms. Cheng had been formally arrested by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. No intricate details were provided by the communist regime.

It was 19 months later in March 2022 that a Beijing Court first heard Ms. Cheng’s case. Australian ambassador to China Graham Fletcher was barred from attending due to “national security reasons.”

Three months later in June 2022, Chinese ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian refuted claims Ms. Cheng was a political prisoner and maintained that her case shouldn’t interfere with Sino-Australian relations.

Over a year of imprisonment later on Oct. 11, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that Ms. Cheng had been released and returned to Australia. She was greeted by Foreign Minister Penny Wong at Melbourne Airport.

Ms. Cheng revealed she had been arrested for breaking a media embargo on a CCP briefing by a few minutes.

Media embargoes are legally-enforced mandates for certain information or news to not be published until a specific date. They are widely used by governments and private entities around the world as a popular public relations strategy to ensure that news is disseminated at the same time.

“What seems innocuous to us here—and I’m sure it is not limited to embargoes, but many other things—are not in China,” Ms. Cheng said.

Chance of Return?

When asked by an ABC host about whether she will ever return, Ms. Cheng said although she won’t rule it out entirely, she is currently banned from applying for a visa for the next 10 years.

In response to a poll appearing on Q+A at the end of last night’s edition asking viewers whether they would feel comfortable travelling to China, 55 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t, 35 percent said they would, and 10 percent were unsure.

Australian ministers raised the issue of Ms. Cheng’s release in several ministerial meetings with CCP officials, most notably when the prime minister met with CCP leader Xi Jinping last year as well as Chinese Premier Li Qiang in September.

Ms. Wong also raised Ms. Cheng’s case with her counterpart, Wang Yi, promptly after the Albanese government was elected in 2022.

Meanwhile, Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been arbitrarily detained in China by the CCP for nearly five years.

Following the release of Ms. Cheng, Mr. Yang’s sons wrote a heartfelt letter to the prime minister asking for another “miracle”—the release of their father.

“We request that you do all in your power to save our father’s life and return him immediately to family and freedom in Australia,” they said in the letter to Mr. Albanese prior to his visit to China.