Cheng Lei: Australian TV presenter finally returns home to Melbourne after being locked up in China for three years in a ‘black jail’ accused of spying

Australian journalist Cheng Lei has arrived safely in Australia after being detained in China for three years.

Anthony Albanese made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon, confirming he had spoken to Ms Cheng who flew to Melbourne to be reunited with her two children.

Mr. Albanese said that the Foreign Minister had welcomed the journalist at home at the airport, where the Prime Minister spoke to her herself.

Ms. Cheng, who worked as a China correspondent for CNBC, was accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas and was arrested by China’s Ministry of State Security in August 2020.

Australian journalist Cheng Lei has arrived safely in Australia after being detained in China for three years

The charge was widely seen as part of the one-party state’s grim policy of using ‘hostage diplomacy’ to sway democratic nations such as Australia that are deemed hostile.

While behind bars, Ms Cheng, 48, was not allowed to speak to her children, aged 14 and 11, who had been living in Melbourne with their mother.

In August, Ms Cheng revealed in a heartbreaking letter what life was like in detention.

The letter was delivered to an Australian consular official in Beijing and given to her partner, Nick Coyle, who then passed it on to the Australian media.

Ms Cheng wrote that she only got 10 full hours of sunlight a year, used ‘sharp Aussie humour’ to keep her spirits up and secretly spoke Australian place names to remind herself of ‘freedom’.

Ms Cheng is seen with her partner Nick Coyle

‘I miss the sun. In my cell, sunlight shines through the window, but I can only stay in it for 10 hours a year,” the message reads.

“Every year the bed is put in the sun for two hours to air out, when it came back the last time I wrapped myself in the doona and pretended I was being hugged by my family in the sun.

“I can’t believe I avoided the sun when I lived in Australia, although knowing Melbourne’s weather, it will probably rain for the first two weeks after I get back.”

Ms Cheng said another thing she desperately misses is Austrian humour.

The letter begins with the line: ‘G’day Aussies, excuse the sour slang from someone who needs ‘Ocherism’.’

“Growing up as a Chinese Australian, I had two identities that would often fight for the upper hand depending on the context and the company, but in humour, Aussie 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.”

More to come