The moment the Australian government knew Cheng Lei was finally free was when she was on the plane from Beijing to Melbourne.
The moment the Australian government knew Cheng Lei was finally free was when she was on a plane from Beijing to Melbourne.
Wong wiped a tear from her eye as she handed the phone to Cheng. On the other end was the prime minister to welcome her home. “I am so pleased to be able to talk to you,” Anthony Albanese said.“I made them a promise some time ago we would do everything, I would do everything I could, to bring her home,” she said.
The more Cheng’s case was mentioned, not just by each level of government but also by business leaders and the media, the more it became clear her detention was an impediment to improving China and Australia’s relationship. By September there was suddenly a flurry of activity. Wong had led the campaign, but the grunt work was done by Australia’s ambassador to China Graham Fletcher and Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Jan Adams.
Australian journalist Cheng Lei, seen here on air on Chinese English-language news channel CGTN, has returned to Australia after a long period of detention in China.In meeting after meeting the Australian negotiators impressed upon the Chinese that Australians wanted to see Cheng reunited with her young kids. The framing turned Cheng from one of hundreds of foreigners languishing anonymously in Chinese jails into a mother and a symbol of the broader relationship.
Cheng had spent the eight years before she was suddenly detained working for Chinese state TV network CGTN. In public, she was a picture of Chinese state media restraint. In private, she was increasingly critical of China’s handling of COVID-19.
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