CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Thursday credited improved relations with China for the return home this week of an Australian journalist whose three-year detention in China in a murky espionage case had strained ties.
A teary-eyed Wong had greeted Cheng Lei with a hug at the airport Wednesday in Melbourne, where Cheng’s two children, 11 and 14, have been raised by their grandmother while Cheng was detained.
“She was in extraordinarily good spirits. I think I was more emotional than she was,” Wong said of Cheng. “I think she’s pretty tough. She looked great.”
Wong revealed that she had promised Cheng’s children some time ago that the government would do all it could to bring their mother home.
“It was really moving to meet Cheng Lei yesterday and speak to her kids who are not much older than mine,” Wong said.
She said she encouraged Cheng to thrive and be healthy and happy now that she’s free. “That’s what all Australians want you to be,” Wong added.
The FreeChengLei account on the X social media platform described her reunion with her family. “Tight hugs, teary screams, holding my kids in the spring sunshine. Trees shimmy from the breeze. I can see the entirety of the sky now! Thank you Aussies,” the post made on her behalf by her partner Nick Coyle said.
In this photo provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Chinese Australian journalist Cheng Lei, left, speaks with Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne, on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Cheng, who was convicted on murky espionage charges and detained in China for three years has returned to Australia. Credit: AP/Sarah Hodges
The Australian newspaper reported the government learned in the past two weeks of a deal in which Cheng would plead guilty to charges relating to state secrets with no additional time in custody. Wong declined to comment on the report, citing Cheng’s privacy.
But Wong said…
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