Sino-Australian Relations and the Bumpy Road to the G7 Summit
Publication: China Brief Volume: 21 Issue: 10
May 21, 2021 01:07 PM
Age: 11 hours
Image: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met in Bangkok, Thailand ahead of the East Asian Summit in November 2019. Diplomatic relations, already tense over Australian concerns of Chinese influence in domestic politics and China’s defensiveness in response to Australia’s outspoken criticisms of Chinese human rights abuses, took a significant downturn in 2020. (Source: ABC).
Introduction
The Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei (成蕾) was formally arrested by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in early February after having been detained for six months in Beijing. Her arrest was confirmed by the PRC on February 8, with Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) stating that Cheng would face criminal charges for “illegally providing state secrets to foreign forces,” and that Chinese judicial authorities would “handle the case in accordance with law and fully protect her rights” (PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 8). China’s criminal conviction rate is above 99.9 percent (China Justice Observer, November 16, 2020). According to a statement issued by Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, “The Australian Government has raised its serious concerns about Ms. Cheng’s detention regularly at senior levels” (Foreignminister.gov.au, February 8) and Australian Embassy officials have visited Cheng regularly since her detention in August.