Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s four-day visit to Australia this week was set to be focused on repairing long-strained relations between the two countries. But apparent efforts by Chinese officials to stand in front of an Australian reporter during a press briefing have shone a spotlight back on frictions between the countries.
Cheng Lei, a TV anchor who was held in detention in China for more than three years before her release in 2023, told Sky News Australia the officials went to “great lengths” to block her from the cameras during a press event Monday where Li and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed cooperative agreements.
Video footage appears to show two people involved in the incident, with one of them, described by the outlet as a Chinese embassy employee, trying at one point to push closer to a seated Cheng, despite being blocked by another woman, identified by Sky News as an Australian official, who intervenes to give her space.
“I’m only guessing this is to prevent me from saying something or doing something that they think would be a bad look, but that in itself was a bad look,” Cheng told Sky News, where she has been employed as a news presenter and columnist since late last year.
Cheng added that such behavior was “typical” as Chinese officials wouldn’t want “voices of discord or the presence of someone who’s a bit controversial” when they are aiming to present a “friendly facade.”
CNN has requested comment from China’s embassy in Canberra.
China’s security state keeps tight control on media and information within the country, where officials are not subject to the kind of robust questioning common to democratic countries.
Beijing has also long been condemned by Western nations and rights groups for wrongful and arbitrary detentions.
Cheng, previously a business anchor for China’s state broadcaster CGTN, was detained by Chinese authorities in August 2020 on opaque espionage charges that came as diplomatic tensions were escalating between Beijing and Canberra.
The mother of two spent more than three years in detention before being released by Beijing and returned home to her family in October, weeks before Albanese made the first visit of an Australian leader to China in seven years.
Speaking to Sky News ahead of the news conference Monday, Cheng said it was a “very emotional day” for her to be covering the major visit.
“Surely the fact that one minute I’m sitting in incarceration and being raised as a topic at these visits then the next minute I’m actually covering the visit … is testament to how wonderful freedom is and democracy is,” she said.
Cheng’s detention had been a deep point of contention between the two governments, as has the jailing of writer and democracy activist Yang Hengjun, an Australian citizen who earlier this year was handed a suspended death penalty sentence for espionage following years of detention. Yang has denied the charges, which rights groups have said are politically motivated.
Albanese said he raised Yang’s case with Li, but declined to give an update on the health of the democracy activist, who has said he fears he could die in jail due to health issues.
When asked during a press conference later about Cheng being blocked from view by officials during the document signing, Albanese said he didn’t see the incident described but added it was “important that people be allowed to participate fully and that’s what should happen in this building or anywhere else in Australia.”
