Credit: <\/span>Aresna Villanueva<\/cite><\/p>\nBut it was a remarkable feat of diplomacy from the Department of Foreign Affairs negotiators and two Australian governments to extract the 48-year-old Melbourne mother of two from the world\u2019s greatest exponent of arbitrary detention in that span of time.<\/p>\n
Just ask Taiwanese businessman Lee Meng-chu, who spent four years in jail for taking photos of police. Or Hideji Suzuki, the Japanese exchange leader who was bundled into a van and imprisoned for six years.<\/p>\n
Or Australia\u2019s Yang Hengjun, a writer and critic of the Chinese government who remains in a Beijing prison four years after he was arrested, unaware of the charges against him.<\/p>\n
Delay, delay, delay. Cheng\u2019s sentencing was delayed more than six times after her trial. The Chinese system is built around playing for time to either extract a confession or a concession from a foreign government. In Cheng\u2019s case, neither appears to have come.<\/p>\n
By Wednesday morning, China expelled Cheng after handing down a sentence of two years and 11 months for \u201cillegally providing state secrets to a foreign country\u201d and taking into account the time already served.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judicial processes were completed,\u201d Albanese said after announcing Cheng had arrived back in Melbourne to hold her family again, while providing little indication of the enormous effort undertaken to secure her freedom.<\/p>\n
Cheng\u2019s release followed years of diplomacy in Beijing from Australia\u2019s diplomats, messages from Cheng dictated to officials, a combination of quiet diplomacy from embassy officials and a public campaign by her partner Nick Coyle.<\/p>\n
They worked together, keeping public pressure on China through the media while not pushing too far and making her volatile situation worse.<\/p>\n
Cheng was released despite two daunting obstacles: she was born in China and the Australian government had limited hard leverage to use in her release.<\/p>\n
Australia had no Meng Wenzhou, the Huawei chief financial officer released by Canada to secure the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor after three years in Chinese jails.<\/p>\n
That left Australian officials, foreign ministers, trade ministers and prime ministers imploring their Chinese counterparts to do the right thing, while hoping that the time would come when China\u2019s use of Cheng as a diplomatic pawn would no longer be in the nation\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n
The inflection point came when the Albanese government was elected last year.<\/p>\n
The Coalition government had weathered $20 billion in trade strikes, but with a new government in Canberra and no policy concessions from Australia, the position of rolling hostility became counterproductive for Beijing.<\/p>\n
It drove up the cost of coal, limited markets for investors and gave the impression that China was a bully.<\/p>\n
Albanese now has a much-needed foreign policy win that he can claim through both persistence and circumstance. Within weeks, he will travel to Beijing. If the Voice to parliament referendum is defeated on Saturday, it will function as a reset.<\/p>\n
Albanese will be able to say that two of his major goals have been achieved: China\u2019s trade sanctions have been mostly lifted, and Cheng Lei has been released from jail. He has one more goal: Yang, the Australian writer and father, remains behind bars and his health is deteriorating.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.303%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/9bf5936968d0c10bedd1c6b3ac5c74c164cc9cbf\")
<\/p>\n
Yang Hengjun has spent four years in a Beijing prison cell.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Sanghee Liu<\/cite><\/p>\nFew images are as powerful as an Australian returning to their children after years stuck in a Chinese jail cell.<\/p>\n
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. <\/b>Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\nMost Viewed in World<\/h2>\nFrom our partners<\/h3>\n
Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Three years was three years too long for Cheng Lei. Three years of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy - lovemainstream.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy - lovemainstream.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Three years was three years too long for Cheng Lei. Three years of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"lovemainstream.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-11T09:11:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Cheng-Leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/\",\"name\":\"Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy - lovemainstream.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-11T09:11:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-11T09:11:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"World News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/category\/world-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/\",\"name\":\"lovemainstream.com\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy - lovemainstream.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy - lovemainstream.com","og_description":"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Three years was three years too long for Cheng Lei. Three years of…","og_url":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/","og_site_name":"lovemainstream.com","article_published_time":"2023-10-11T09:11:46+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Cheng-Leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/","url":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/","name":"Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy - lovemainstream.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-11T09:11:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-11T09:11:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/cheng-leis-release-is-a-remarkable-feat-of-diplomacy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"World News","item":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/category\/world-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Cheng Lei\u2019s release is a remarkable feat of diplomacy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/","name":"lovemainstream.com","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238414,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238413\/revisions\/238414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}