Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The Australian government announced Monday that China has formally arrested Cheng Lei, an Australian employee of state-run broadcaster CGTN some six months after she was initially detained.
Marise Payne, the Australian minister of foreign affairs, said in a statement that China had informed her government that it had formally arrested Cheng on Friday.
"Chinese authorities have advised that Ms. Cheng was arrested on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas," Payne said.
Cheng, 45, was detained on Aug. 13, and the Australian government has repeatedly raised concerns about her condition to senior Chinese officials, Payne said, adding that Australian embassy officials have visited Cheng six times during her detention, most recently on Jan. 27.
Related
"We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms," Payne said. "Our thoughts are with Ms. Cheng and her family during this difficult time."
Cheng had worked for CGTN since 2012 after being the China correspondent at CNBC Asia for nine years, her CGTN biography states.
Cheng, a single mother of two, was arrested amid worsening relations between the two countries as Canberra has pushed back against Beijing's human rights abuses, banned its companies from developing its next-generation wireless Internet service and has called for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
In the past year, China has also hiked tariffs on Australian imports, most notably in late November when its ministry of commerce announced an increase as has as 200% for wine on accusations of price dumping -- accusations Australia has denied.
"The cumulative impact of China's trade sanctions against a number of Australian industries in the course of this year does give rise the perception that these actions are being undertaken as a result or in response to some other factors," Simon Birmingham, Australia's minister for trade, tourism and investment, said when the tariffs were announced.
