Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australian TV journalist Cheng Lei has returned to her home country after three years in jail in China, the Australian government said on Wednesday.
Born in China, but holding an Australian passport, having grown up in Melbourne, Cheng was a high-profile TV anchor for CGTN, the international broadcast arm of state-owned China Central Television.
She fronted the “Global Business” daily show. However, she was detained in August 2020, held in detention and formally arrested in February 2021 on espionage charges.
China’s Ministry of State Security said that Cheng had been approached by a foreign organization in May 2020 and provided them with state secrets she had obtained on the job in violation of a confidentiality clause signed with her employer.
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