Cheng Lei
(Picture: Australia's Department of Foreig)Diplomats have been refused entry to the trial of an Australian journalist accused of spying in China.
Cheng Lei went on trial on Thursday accused by China of providing state secrets to a foreign country.
The 46-year-old was a television anchor for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN before being detained in August 2020.
She was formally arrested a year ago on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. Cheng’s family have insisted she is innocent.
Australia’s ambassador, Graham Fletcher, was barred from entering the court.
A court official told him: “In this case, the defendant is suspected of the crime of illegally providing state secrets to a foreign country, which is a case involving state secrets and is not handled openly, so is not open to visitors.”
Mr Fletcher told reporters that he was concerned because Australia had no information about the charges Cheng faces and does not understand why she is being detained.
“This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable," he said after being excluded from court.
“We can have no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret”.
A heavy contingent of uniformed police and plain-clothed security personnel were positioned outside the No.2 People’s Intermediate Court on Thursday where Cheng is on trial.
Police checked journalists’ IDs and asked them to move away.
Australian diplomats have had regular visits with Cheng, most recently on March 21, and she is said to be “doing OK”.
Australia has previously said it was concerned about Cheng’s welfare and conditions of detention and what it said was a "lack of transparency" over the case.
It is not clear when a verdict will be handed down, but China’s courts have a conviction rate of well over 99%, according to calculations by China Justice Observer, a local website.
Speaking to Reuters, Cheng’s family said: “Her two children and elderly parents miss her immensely and sincerely hope to reunite with her as soon as possible.”
It comes after a series of cases in China where diplomats have been refused permission to attend court cases involving their country’s citizens, including the trial of Australian blogger Yang Hengjun, who was accused of espionage last May.
Cheng was born in China and moved with her parents to Australia as a child before returning to China and building a journalism career.
Diplomatic relations between Australia and China are tense, after Canberra urged an international probe into the source of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and Beijing responded with trade reprisals.
