China: Australian journalist detained on national security grounds

China says the Australian journalist who was detained last month is suspected of endangering national security.

“The Australian national Cheng Lei is suspected of carrying out criminal activities endangering China’s national security, and compulsory measures have been taken,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday, in the first comments on the business anchor on State-owned channel CGTN since her detention on August 14.

“An investigation is underway by the relevant authority,” Zhao added.

The spokesman stressed that Cheng’s legal rights and interests were fully guaranteed.

Earlier on Tuesday, two Australian correspondents, Bill Birtles and Michael Smith, escaped from China despite being banned from leaving the country as they had been told that “they were persons of interest in an investigation into Ms. Cheng.”

“As long as foreign journalists obey the law… they have no reason to worry,” Lijian said after saying that authorities had investigated the Australian pair as part of an unspecified case.

SS