Australian journalist Cheng Lei returns home after three years detention in China

Open this photo in gallery:

China has released Australian journalist Cheng Lei, more than three years after she was detained on unspecified national security charges, in a case widely denounced by Western governments and press freedom organizations.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday that Ms. Cheng, 48, “has arrived safely home in Australia and has been reunited with her family,” following “the completion of legal processes in China.”

“Her return brings an end to a very difficult few years for Ms. Cheng and her family,” he told journalists in Melbourne. “This is an outcome the Australian government has been seeking for a long time, and her return will be warmly welcomed, not just by her family and friends, but by all Australians.”

Mr. Albanese said he had spoken with Ms. Cheng, whom he described as a “very strong and resilient person,” adding she was “delighted to be back in Melbourne.”

A former anchor for Chinese state-run broadcaster CGTN, Ms. Cheng was arrested by state security in 2020 amid a diplomatic dispute between Beijing and Canberra, which also saw China limit some Australian imports. She was later accused of “supplying state secrets overseas,” a broadly defined crime that has been used in the past to prosecute Chinese dissidents, and one that she denied having committed.

In a letter to Australians in August, marking more than 1,000 days in detention, Ms. Cheng said she had not “seen a tree in three years.” The China-born journalist, whose family migrated to Australia in 1985, said she felt an even stronger affection for her adopted homeland after such a long a forced separation, describing her message as a “love letter to 25 million people and 7 million square kilometres of land, land abundant in nature, beauty and space.”

“I miss the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year,” Ms. Cheng said. “I can’t believe I used to avoid the sun when I was living back in Australia, although knowing Melbourne weather, it will probably rain for the first two weeks after I return.”

Per her prediction, Wednesday’s weather was overcast, but the reaction to her release was anything but gloomy. Australian lawmakers from across the political spectrum applauded the news, and praised the government’s handling of Ms. Cheng’s case. On X, formerly known as Twitter, Michael Kovrig, who himself spent more than 1,000 days in Chinese custody before his release in September, 2021, wrote, “Liberty at last for Cheng Lei!”

As with Mr. Kovrig and fellow detained Canadian Michael Spavor, China has always denied that Ms. Cheng’s prosecution was politically motivated. But the timing of both her arrest and release, like in the case of the two Michaels, tells another story.

Ms. Cheng was detained in September, 2020, amid what Beijing described as a “sharp downturn” in relations after then-prime minister Scott Morrison had called for an international probe into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Imports of Australian wine, beef and barley were all hit with new tariffs, and Chinese state security also tried to detain two other Australian journalists, Bill Birtles of the ABC and Mike Smith of the Australian Financial Review, who sought diplomatic protection before leaving the country.

The release of Ms. Cheng comes ahead of a planned visit by Mr. Albanese to Beijing, and follows months of gradually improving ties. Foreign Minister Penny Wong travelled to China in December, while Mr. Albanese held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Jakarta last month, during which he told Premier Li Qiang Australians “want to see Cheng Lei reunited with her children.”

In a statement Wednesday, the Beijing municipal national security bureau said Ms. Cheng had been deported following the completion of her sentence “in accordance with the law.”

Still, Ms. Cheng is not the only Australian detained by China. Speaking Wednesday, Mr. Albanese said his government would continue to lobby for the release of Yang Hengjun, who has been held since January, 2019.

A former Chinese diplomat turned democracy activist and academic, Dr. Yang was accused of espionage and was tried in May, 2021, but has yet to receive a verdict. Both he and the Australian government reject the charges against him, and Canberra has said his imprisonment amounts to “arbitrary detention.”

In a statement welcoming Ms. Cheng’s release, Australian opposition leaders Peter Dutton and Simon Birmingham said they remained “deeply concerned” for Dr. Yang and urged Mr. Albanese’s government “to use all available diplomatic means to equally secure his return and to ensure his well-being.”