Australian journalist Cheng Lei says China bashing ‘worrying’

The former anchor at Chinese state-run TV network CGTN said there were two sides of China and that both it and Australia must engage and understand each other, she said in an interview with the Australia-China Relations Institute in Sydney this week.

The Chinese-born journalist said she would consider going back to China but only if she felt safe enough and welcomed.

“The extreme [Australian] views that are held about China, the fearmongering, the laziness to think and to read and really understand and engage with people whose views you don’t agree with. That’s really worrying.”

She said in China, the Chinese knew a lot more about Australia than Australians about China.

Nick Coyle, Cheng’s partner and former chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, who also spoke at the interview, said it was important that Australia become adept at “walking and chewing gum” over its relationship with China.

Particularly, it was important for the Australian media and the political class not to overreact or “score political points” at every issue that surfaced between the two nations, he added.

Both agreed there was little nuance in the Australian media’s coverage of China which was “far too binary”.

“[It’s] hug the panda or mug the panda,” Cheng said.

“For the media, they’ll have their go-to persons. This person is anti-China, I’ll just interview this person. This person is pro-China, and you don’t always get the full picture if you don’t talk to people who can be quite holistic in their views on China.”

When asked if she felt any bitterness about China after her recent detention, Cheng said while China had deep-seated problems such as freedom of expression, it also embodied a lot of “beauty”.

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Australian journalist