Australian journalist Cheng Lei, after months of detention in China, has been formally arrested on charges of supplying state secrets overseas, the Australian government has confirmed.
Prior to her detention, Ms Cheng had been a TV presenter for Chinese state media outlet CGTN.
She was detained in August and charged last Friday, Australian officials said.
Canberra has repeatedly raised concerns with Beijing over Ms Cheng’s detention.
“We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms,” said Australia’s foreign affairs minister Marise Payne.
“Our thoughts are with Ms Cheng and her family during this difficult period.”
Ms Cheng, a China-born Australian citizen, had worked in Beijing for the last few years. Much of her family, including her two young children, live in Australia.
In August, she suddenly disappeared from television and couldn’t be contacted by friends or relatives. Her employer, CGTN – the English-language channel of the state broadcaster – also wiped its websites of Mr Cheng’s profile page and work.
In her spare time, Cheng was active in the Australian community in Beijing, taking part in events at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and acting as an “alumni ambassador” for the country’s embassy.
Her final post on WeChat, the Chinese social networking app, showed her at the opening of a Shake Shack outlet in Beijing on August 12, the first restaurant opened in China by the US chain. Posing in a bright green dress, Cheng captioned the photos with the hashtag “make shakes not war.”
Asked about Cheng’s detention last year, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “China is a country under the rule of law, and we will act in accordance with the law.”
Cheng’s original detention came amid rapidly worsening ties between Canberra and Beijing. After Australia called for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, China targeted it over trade, slapping products with tariffs and blocking acquisitions by Australian companies.
Soon after Cheng was detained, two Australian journalists working in China fled the country after authorities attempted to question them on national security grounds, leaving Australia’s media without any journalists working in China for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Bill Birtles, Beijing correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Mike Smith, Shanghai correspondent for the Australian Financial Review (AFR), were told they were “persons of interest in an investigation” into Cheng. Both sought the protection of consular officials, and were eventually able to fly out of China after a five-day diplomatic standoff.
In an exclusive report Monday, Birtles quoted family members of Cheng in Australia as saying they were unaware of any reason why should might have been detained.
“I don’t think she would have done anything to harm national security in any way intentionally,” Louisa Wen, Cheng’s niece and spokeswoman for the family, told the ABC. “We don’t know if she’s just been caught up in something that she herself didn’t realize.”