Australia ‘deeply concerned’ over delays in journalist Cheng Lei’s national security trial verdict in China

A court last year deferred its ruling following the closed-door trial of Cheng, who is accused by Beijing of sharing state secrets

Foreign minister Penny Wong said Canberra had ‘advocated at every opportunity for Ms. Cheng to be reunited with her family’

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Australian journalist Cheng Lei. File photo: AP

Published: 11:02am, 31 Mar 2023Updated: 2:04pm, 31 Mar 2023

Australia remains deeply concerned that Australian journalist Cheng Lei has not learned of a verdict a year after standing trial in China on national security charges, the foreign minister said on Friday.

Penny Wong marked the first anniversary of the closed trial in Beijing with a statement that said her government had “advocated at every opportunity for Ms. Cheng to be reunited with her family.”

“She is still waiting to learn the outcome of the trial,” Wong said. “We share the deep concerns of Ms. Cheng’s family and friends about the ongoing delays in her case.”

“Our thoughts today are with Ms. Cheng and her loved ones, particularly her two children,” she added. The children live with family in the Australian city of Melbourne.

The anniversary comes as troubled relations between China and Australia show signs of improvement since Wong’s centre-left Labor Party came to power at elections last year.