Stephen McDonell, BBC China Correspondent
7 hours ago
image copyrightNick Coyle
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Cheng Lei has been detained since 2020.
An Australian journalist who will complete three years in China’s prison this weekend has spoken publicly for the first time.
In an open letter to the Australian people, Cheng Lei said: “I miss the sun. In the cell, the sun shines in through the windows, but I only have 10 hours a year to stand under it.” The letter was granted monthly visits Her diplomat notes.
“I can’t believe that when I was living in Australia, I was always hiding from the sun.”
“I haven’t seen a tree in three years,” she said.
The financial journalist, who worked for the state-run English-language broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN) before his arrest, spent the first six months in solitary confinement without charge.
In March last year, Cheng Lei was tried in secret and has been waiting for a verdict for one year and four months.
Australian ambassador to China Fu Guanhan (Graham Fletcher) tried to enter the court to observe the trial process, but failed.
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On March 31, 2022, the trial of Cheng Lei’s case began. The Australian ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, came to the scene and asked to attend the trial but was refused.
Even her family members do not know what crime she is charged with, only that it involves providing “state secrets”.
China has a vague definition of what constitutes a state secret, which can involve anything the government finds sensitive.
The letters released today are full of her vision for life in Australia. When she was only 10 years old, her family immigrated to Australia from Hunan Province.
“In 1987, I remember the first time I went camping with my family and my dad was driving a 700 yuan (Australian dollar; US$459; 3300 yuan) car,” she said.
“I’m always reliving every bushwalk, river, lake, beach swim, picnic and stunning sunset, starry sky, and the peaceful, mysterious symphony of the jungle.”
The former TV anchor said she would always “quietly recite the names of the places I’ve been to and driven past (in Australia)” in prison.
In the letter, which was described as a “love letter to 25 million people”, Cheng Lei said that she recalled the friendship of strangers and friends, and these memories “come back to me again, let me (in prison) regain Gain confidence.”
She says she misses sea salt, dark humor, the tropics of Queensland and Western Australia’s endless blue skies and sand between her toes.
Some people speculate that the postponement of Cheng Lei’s sentencing is to be used by the Chinese government as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Anthony Albanese, also translated as Albanese) was invited to visit China to meet with Xi Jinping. However, he did not declare that he would wait until Cheng Lei and another Australian citizen, Yang Hengjun, were released before visiting China. Quite stressful.
The letter seemed to contain the most important message at the end: “Most of all, I miss the children.”
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Chinese-Australian anchor Cheng Lei has been detained, making China-Australia relations worse
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2023-08-10 12:28:16
