An Australian journalist languishing in a Chinese gulag has penned a heartbreaking letter about how she pretends her family is hugging her home as she wraps herself in prison bedding.
Cheng Lei, 48, also revealed that she only gets 10 full hours of sunlight a year, uses “daggy Aussie humour” to keep her spirits up and secretly pronounces Australian place names to remind herself of “freedom”.
Despite Australian officials’ continued efforts to free the mother-of-two, Ms Cheng has been locked in a Beijing cell under the authoritarian state’s draconian security laws for nearly three years.
Ms Cheng, who worked as CNBC’s China correspondent, is accused of illegally providing state secrets abroad, but the charge is widely seen as part of the one-party state’s gritty policy of using ‘hostage diplomacy’ to dethrone democratic nations like Australia , which are supposed to use, as leverage. violent.
The letter from the accused spy was passed on to an Australian consular officer in Beijing and given to her partner, Nick Coyle, who forwarded it to the Australian media.
‘I mis the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window, but I can only stand in it for 10 hours a year,” the message reads.
Australian journalist Cheng Lei has languished in Chinese detention for nearly three years on vague security-related charges
“Every year the bedding is left in the sun for two hours to air out, when it came back the last time I wrapped myself in the duvet and pretended to be hugged in the sun by my family.
“I can’t believe I always avoided the sun when I lived back in Australia, although the weather in Melbourne knows it will probably rain for the first two weeks after my return.”
Ms Cheng said another thing she missed was Australian humour, saying she ‘needed ochre’ as her slang had become too ‘daggy’
“Growing up Chinese Australian I had two identities that often fought for the upper hand depending on context and company, but in humor Australian humor wins hands down every time,” she said.
‘Even though we speak different languages and eat different meals, we laugh the same and have an eye for the absurd.’
However, Ms Cheng said what she missed most was her 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, who live with her parents in Melbourne.
Ms Cheng’s partner, Nick Coyle (pictured left with Ms Cheng), said her jail term had been very hard on her children
Ms Cheng, who migrated to Australia from China at the age of 10, called the message a “love letter to the 25 million people and 7 million square kilometers of land, land with an abundance of nature, beauty and space.”
“It’s not the same here, I haven’t seen a tree in three years,” she said.
‘I miss the Australian people, the closing times of food stalls, with butchers shouting out final prices and Sunday flea markets, takeaways run by immigrant families.
“I secretly pronounce the names of the places I’ve visited and driven through.”
After a prominent position as an anchor on China’s English-language CGTN news channel, Ms. Cheng was suddenly detained in Shanghai by China’s Ministry of State Security on August 14, 2020.
The unexpected and largely unexplained arrest came at a time of deteriorating relations between Beijing and the then-Morison administration.
The bitter feud erupted when Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid pandemic.
Being was furious at the call for transparency and hit Australia with about $20 billion in trade sanctions, while Chinese diplomats publicly denounced Canberra.
A ‘verdict’ in Ms Cheng’s case has been promised eight times, but was delayed until at least October last month.
Ms Cheng has been denied entry by Australian consular officials since July 27.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she would continue to fight for Ms Cheng’s release.
“Ms. Cheng’s message to the public makes clear her deep love for our country. All Australians want to see her reunited with her children,” said Senator Wong.
Australia has consistently advocated for Ms Cheng and asked that basic standards of fairness, procedural fairness and humane treatment for Ms Cheng be met, in line with international standards.
Ms Lei said she had not seen a tree in three years and had only 10 hours of full sunlight a year in her cell
“Our thoughts are with Ms. Cheng and her loved ones, including her two children.”
Ms Cheng’s partner, Nick Coyle, 43, said it would be in everyone’s best interests, especially Ms Cheng’s children, if she were released immediately
“Lei hasn’t been able to be with her daughter who is going to high school and her son is going to high school next year, these are such important and formative years, not only is Lei missing out, but her kids are missing her as well,” he said.
“Three years is a milestone and the motivation behind the message is to give her a voice in how she feels about her province and her children.”
Mr Coyle lives in Port Moresby and is not the father of Mrs Cheng’s two children.