Tensions rise as China detains Oz TV presenter
Detention, based on ‘national security grounds’, comes amid tense escape of two other prominent Australian journalists
BEIJING/ SHANGHAI/ TAIPEI: An Australian journalist who worked for Chinese official media and has been missing for weeks is being held on charges of endangering “national security”, China said on Tuesday.
Cheng Lei, who worked as an anchor for China Global Television Network (CGTN) channel, is suspected of “criminal activity of endangering China’s national security”, the country’s foreign ministry announced.
Authorities had taken “compulsory measures” against Cheng, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters on Tuesday. Cheng, a Chinese-born Australian anchor, was detained on August 14, the Australian foreign ministry had said last month.
Australian diplomats spoke to her from her detention facility over video at the end of August. Zhao didn’t share details of the charges levelled against Cheng.
Zhao’s announcement came hours after the last two Australian journalists flew back to Sydney in late night flights after a tense diplomatic stand-off that lasted five days.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Bill Birtles in Beijing and the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) Mike Smith in Shanghai were apparently questioned in connection with Cheng’s case. Birtles took refuge at the Australian embassy in Beijing and Smith at the country’s consulate in Shanghai after they were questioned by the police. They left China after negotiations gave them a window to leave the country.
In a statement, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) condemned the Chinese government’s “…unprecedented harassment and intimidation of two Australian journalists by preventing them from leaving the country, leading both to flee China after a diplomatic standoff ended in a lifting of the bans”.
China: Some countries are bullying others
China announced an initiative on Tuesday to establish global standards on data security, saying it wanted to promote multilateralism in the area at a time when “individual countries” were “bullying” others and “hunting” companies.
The announcement, by state councillor Wang Yi, comes a month after the US said it was purging “untrusted” Chinese apps under a programme dubbed “Clean Network”.
China’s initiative calls for tech firms to prevent the creation of backdoors in their products and services that could allow data to be obtained illegally. It also calls for participants not to engage in large-scale surveillance of other countries.
Taiwan seeks alliance against China aggression
Taiwan President Tsai Ing Wen called on Tuesday for an alliance of democracies to defend against “aggressive actions” and protect freedom, alluding to Chinese actions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait as major threats to regional stability.
Tsai said Taiwan stood at the forefront of defending democracy from “authoritarian aggression”. While Taiwan is committed to boosting its defensive capabilities, maintaining regional peace needs collaborative efforts, she added.
“The rapid militarisation of the South China Sea, increasing and frequent grey-zone tactics in the Taiwan Strait and East China Sea, coercive diplomacy used against countries and corporations... are all destabilising the Indo-Pacific region,” Tsai said, without directly naming China.
“It is time for like-minded countries to discuss a framework to generate sustained and concerted efforts to maintain a strategic order that deters unilateral aggressive actions.”