Comment on Australian Cheng Lei's first message from Chinese prison describes harsh conditions
Lintson@aussie.zone 1 year agoA valid opinion but I have a different take on her story. Given her Chinese background and immigrant status it is perfectly reasonable for her to end up working in China. You have to understand a few points.
Tldr; she wanted to be a news lady, not a speck of a chance that would happen in Australia, used her Chinese background and the prevailing economic winds at the time to nail that dream in China.
Yeah there were plenty of warning signs and opportunities to leave but when you’ve built an outstanding career over 20 years it is hard to leave. It’d be like finally getting to be footy captain and then calling it quits. Also when you have lived and worked in China (or anywhere) for that long everything gets normalised. The bribes, corruption, harsh penalties and censorship of the state become part of everyday life, things that are objectively wrong don’t feel wrong anymore. Just like how we in Australia have become accustomed to paying ridiculous fines, levys, fees and insurances. Also uh… COVID kinda made it hard to escape. Australia wouldn’t have let you in and China wouldn’t have let you return to your job. Many at that time were hoping to ride out the storm.
She is indeed, to a degree, a victim of her own ambition but given thr above I can’t really say it’s a “leopards ate my face” situation. Perhaps in some warped way she thought that being a state media shill would offer her some insurance against detainment but in reality it only made her an even more attractive target for the increasingly heavy handed Chinese State authorities.
She is 100% being used as a political weapon against Australia as every day she is being detained erodes the value of Australian Citizenship. There will be plenty who will argue “weelll she’s not really one of us is she?” but that only serves to tear apart our multicultural values which benefits the geopolitical power of the Chinese State. One of China’s problems continues to be the massive flight of human capital (and in turn $$$) from their shores. Power plays like this demonstrate to that nobody in China is untouchable and furthermore a foreign citizenship is worthless even if you obtain one. A truly twisted way to enforce loyalty among your own populace.
Finally she gets to write one letter home per month. Wouldn’t believe most of what’s written as you can guarantee that shit is heavily curated to hit us in the feels.
There will be plenty who will argue “weelll she’s not really one of us is she?” but that only serves to tear apart our multicultural values
I disagree. I think, like the referendum, this issue is shining a light on the minority of people in Australia who don’t share our multicultural values.
That will, absolutely, tear apart relationships in Australia short term, however I think it will make Australia stronger in the long run.
Surely what it demonstrates is once you have foreign citizenship, don’t go back to China? That’s not good for the Chinese economy.
I don’t even think it’s necessary to go that far. This should be “don’t work in a political position in/for China”.
Anonbal185@aussie.zone 1 year ago
The warning signs are all there. It’s no coincidence that China has become more belligerent as their economy has faltered, they are a dictatorship and they need to divert the attention. Expect more of the same or even dialled up a notch or two as stagnation becomes long term.
Second I wouldn’t say being a journalist in China has any prestige. Certainly not any investigative journalism there. You’re just told to say what you’re told to say, you can pick some random person off the street for that, I mean how hard is that? Would her “experience” mean much outside of China? It’s like a person having 10 years experience but never moved beyond the duties of a graduate.
Third she could have gone to Taiwan. If she’s struggling to get a job in Australia (I assume due to language abilities?) Taiwan speaks her native language so she would fit right in there and not be in this predicament.
But the end of the day they target us because we can’t do anything to counter it. Americans would probably lock up a Chinese citizen on trumped up terrorism charges as leverage whereas Australia doesn’t.
Ilandar@aussie.zone 1 year ago
You really need to do the bare minimum of research on this person. It is highly likely she has better “language abilities” than you.
Anonbal185@aussie.zone 1 year ago
Maybe but that makes it even more perplexing why she would go. It’s not like she would do any actual journalism there like I said. Being told what to say rather than telling the truth isn’t really journalism.
Ilandar@aussie.zone 1 year ago
How is that a mystery? She is bi-lingual and was born in China. And yes, she did do “actual journalism” there - she worked for CNBC for nearly a decade.