Latest news with #MinistryofStateSecurity
Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Freed Aussie exposes China's secret jails
An Australian journalist has relived the 'mental torture' of her time in one of China's notorious RSDL black jail cells in a harrowing documentary detailing ordeal. It has been little more than one-and-a-half-years since Cheng Lei landed safely in Australia after spending nearly three in Chinese custody. She was a prominent business anchor for a Chinese state broadcaster when Ministry of State Security officers unexpectedly raided her Beijing apartment in August, 2020. After hunting through her belongings and seizing all her electronic devices, they blindfolded Cheng and disappeared her into China's web of secret prisons. Now a Sky News presenter based in her hometown of Melbourne, Cheng has delved into the brutality of her detention in a documentary for the network titled Cheng Lei: My Story. She shares heart-wrenching details of the darkest period of her life and offers a rare glimpse into one of the most ruthless justice systems on the planet. Australian journalist Cheng Lei spent nearly six months in solitary confinement in China. Supplied Credit: Supplied Cheng was held in solitary confinement for nearly six months after being accused of endangering China's national security. Chinese authorities never fully clarified the allegation, but that did not stop them holding her for 177 days before her official arrest. 'RSDL is the Chinese spelling for hell,' Cheng said in the documentary. 'It stands for Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location, which makes you think it's house arrest. 'But in reality, it's mental torture.' Little is known about RSDL in China. But Safeguard Defenders, which tracks disappearances in China, has scraped enough together to paint a deeply disturbing picture. Detainees are kept at unknown locations for up to six months in cells 'designed to prevent suicide', according to the human rights not-for-profit. Witnesses have told the group they were denied legal counsel or contact with the outside world and 'regularly subjected to torture and forced to confess' — experiences hauntingly similar to Cheng's. Faced with a recreation of her cell, Cheng became emotional and said the months she spent inside were 'as close to dying and wanting to die as I ever got'. 'Yeah, this is where I spent six months,' she said as she entered the mock cell. 'Just sitting like this, thinking I was never gonna get out and absolutely helpless.' Cheng was forced to sit in a rigid position for 13 hours every day. NewsWire / Screengrab / Sky News Australia Credit: NewsWire The room was simple — blank, cream walls, a bed and a stool for the guards that watched over her 24/7. She was forbidden from talking or making the 'slightest movement', and had to receive permission before so much as scratching herself, she explained. 'So you're in a bare room, and you are guarded and watched at all times by two guards,' Cheng said. 'One stands in front of me, one sits next to me, and they take turns with the standing and sitting. 'I have to sit on the edge of the bed and have my hands on my lap. 'Not allowed to cross the ankles or cross the legs, not allowed to close the eyes, no talking, no laughing, no sunshine, no sky, no exercise, no requests, no colour — just fear, desperation, isolation and utter boredom.' She says she sat like that for 13 hours each day. 'I hated having to sit still, not being able to do anything,' Cheng said. 'How do they come up with this — just nothingness? Nothingness, but also a sea of pain. 'I had no idea what was happening, or how long I would be here.' Outside, fierce diplomatic efforts were underway to gain consular access to her, with Australian officials fighting to get information to her loved ones — including her two children in Melbourne — about where she was and what her condition was. Safeguard Defenders has estimated as many as 113,407 people have been placed into RSDL and later faced trial. Cheng says her time in a secret Chinese prison cell was 'as close to dying and wanting to die as I ever got'. NewsWire / Screengrab / Sky News Australia Credit: NewsWire After she was formally arrested, Cheng was taken out of RSDL and moved into a larger cell with three other women. She stayed there for the remainder of her detention. Cheng and her cellmates were still subjected to 24-hour surveillance, but at least she was not alone, and a clearer picture was forming of what had landed her in custody. 'Eight words' As a senior journalist working for state media, she had access to Chinese government releases before they were published, including a major announcement that Beijing was not setting a 2020 GDP target due to uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic. Cheng was close friends with a reporter at Bloomberg, Haze Fan. The journalists shared their sources with each other. Cheng said Fan had been pushing for a 'series of government reports from me that hadn't been published in order to break the story at Bloomberg'. 'And I wanted to help her, because she had helped me,' Cheng said. 'When I told her the eight words which were 'no growth target', 'GDP', nine million jobs target' at 7:23am, I thought that would help her break the story, which they did.' She sent the text just seven minutes before the announcement was published. 'The charge was supplying state secrets to foreign entities, which boils down to texting eight words, seven minutes before the embargo (lifted), to my friend at Bloomberg,' Cheng said. Cheng was detained during a low point in Australia's relationship with China. Former prime minister Scott Morrison had infuriated Beijing when he backed an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus. China's ambassador at the time warned Australia's push for a probe was 'dangerous'. Soon after, tariffs were slapped on Australian goods, leading to a years-long trade war that has only recently eased, with the Albanese government unlocking $20bn worth of trade. Cheng's incarceration has been broadly seen as being part of China's efforts to pressure Australia. She was only released as ties with China began to normalise in late 2023. Cheng made clear the suffering she endured as a pawn in a geopolitical game. 'You don't know if you'll ever see your family again, because you don't know what they (the Chinese government) want,' she said. 'You don't know how everything you've done that you thought was good was now possibly criminal. 'Everything that made you happy or gave you pleasure now just was so far, is so removed from you. It was a cause of pain.' Cheng Lei: My Story will premiere on Sky News Australia at 7:30pm on Tuesday, June 3. Cheng Lei: A Memoir Of Freedom by Cheng Lei will be published by HarperCollins on Wednesday, June 4.
West Australian
3 hours ago
- Politics
- West Australian
Australian journalist Cheng Lei relives ‘torture' of China's secret jails in documentary
An Australian journalist has relived the 'mental torture' of her time in one of China's notorious RSDL black jail cells in a harrowing documentary detailing ordeal. It has been little more than one-and-a-half-years since Cheng Lei landed safely in Australia after spending nearly three in Chinese custody. She was a prominent business anchor for a Chinese state broadcaster when Ministry of State Security officers unexpectedly raided her Beijing apartment in August, 2020. After hunting through her belongings and seizing all her electronic devices, they blindfolded Cheng and disappeared her into China's web of secret prisons. Now a Sky News presenter based in her hometown of Melbourne, Cheng has delved into the brutality of her detention in a documentary for the network titled Cheng Lei: My Story. She shares heart-wrenching details of the darkest period of her life and offers a rare glimpse into one of the most ruthless justice systems on the planet. Cheng was held in solitary confinement for nearly six months after being accused of endangering China's national security. Chinese authorities never fully clarified the allegation, but that did not stop them holding her for 177 days before her official arrest. 'RSDL is the Chinese spelling for hell,' Cheng said in the documentary. 'It stands for Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location, which makes you think it's house arrest. 'But in reality, it's mental torture.' Little is known about RSDL in China. But Safeguard Defenders, which tracks disappearances in China, has scraped enough together to paint a deeply disturbing picture. Detainees are kept at unknown locations for up to six months in cells 'designed to prevent suicide', according to the human rights not-for-profit. Witnesses have told the group they were denied legal counsel or contact with the outside world and 'regularly subjected to torture and forced to confess' — experiences hauntingly similar to Cheng's. Faced with a recreation of her cell, Cheng became emotional and said the months she spent inside were 'as close to dying and wanting to die as I ever got'. 'Yeah, this is where I spent six months,' she said as she entered the mock cell. 'Just sitting like this, thinking I was never gonna get out and absolutely helpless.' The room was simple — blank, cream walls, a bed and a stool for the guards that watched over her 24/7. She was forbidden from talking or making the 'slightest movement', and had to receive permission before so much as scratching herself, she explained. 'So you're in a bare room, and you are guarded and watched at all times by two guards,' Cheng said. 'One stands in front of me, one sits next to me, and they take turns with the standing and sitting. 'I have to sit on the edge of the bed and have my hands on my lap. 'Not allowed to cross the ankles or cross the legs, not allowed to close the eyes, no talking, no laughing, no sunshine, no sky, no exercise, no requests, no colour — just fear, desperation, isolation and utter boredom.' She says she sat like that for 13 hours each day. 'I hated having to sit still, not being able to do anything,' Cheng said. 'How do they come up with this — just nothingness? Nothingness, but also a sea of pain. 'I had no idea what was happening, or how long I would be here.' Outside, fierce diplomatic efforts were underway to gain consular access to her, with Australian officials fighting to get information to her loved ones — including her two children in Melbourne — about where she was and what her condition was. Safeguard Defenders has estimated as many as 113,407 people have been placed into RSDL and later faced trial. After she was formally arrested, Cheng was taken out of RSDL and moved into a larger cell with three other women. She stayed there for the remainder of her detention. Cheng and her cellmates were still subjected to 24-hour surveillance, but at least she was not alone, and a clearer picture was forming of what had landed her in custody. 'Eight words' As a senior journalist working for state media, she had access to Chinese government releases before they were published, including a major announcement that Beijing was not setting a 2020 GDP target due to uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic. Cheng was close friends with a reporter at Bloomberg, Haze Fan. The journalists shared their sources with each other. Cheng said Fan had been pushing for a 'series of government reports from me that hadn't been published in order to break the story at Bloomberg'. 'And I wanted to help her, because she had helped me,' Cheng said. 'When I told her the eight words which were 'no growth target', 'GDP', nine million jobs target' at 7:23am, I thought that would help her break the story, which they did.' She sent the text just seven minutes before the announcement was published. 'The charge was supplying state secrets to foreign entities, which boils down to texting eight words, seven minutes before the embargo (lifted), to my friend at Bloomberg,' Cheng said. Cheng was detained during a low point in Australia's relationship with China. Former prime minister Scott Morrison had infuriated Beijing when he backed an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus. China's ambassador at the time warned Australia's push for a probe was 'dangerous'. Soon after, tariffs were slapped on Australian goods, leading to a years-long trade war that has only recently eased, with the Albanese government unlocking $20bn worth of trade. Cheng's incarceration has been broadly seen as being part of China's efforts to pressure Australia. She was only released as ties with China began to normalise in late 2023. Cheng made clear the suffering she endured as a pawn in a geopolitical game. 'You don't know if you'll ever see your family again, because you don't know what they (the Chinese government) want,' she said. 'You don't know how everything you've done that you thought was good was now possibly criminal. 'Everything that made you happy or gave you pleasure now just was so far, is so removed from you. It was a cause of pain.' Cheng Lei: My Story will premiere on Sky News Australia at 7:30pm on Tuesday, June 3. Cheng Lei: A Memoir Of Freedom by Cheng Lei will be published by HarperCollins on Wednesday, June 4.
Epoch Times
4 days ago
- Epoch Times
Chinese Regime Targets 5 Types of Foreign ‘Spies'
The Chinese communist regime's Ministry of State Security has listed five types of foreign 'spies' and urged the Chinese public to point them out and report them to authorities. Analysts said the regime's move is aimed at shifting public focus away from China's political and economic crises. The ministry published an article titled 'Exposing the Many Faces of Spies' on its official social media account on WeChat on May 25, listing five types of identities that foreign spies would use. The article has been reposted by major Chinese media outlets. The five types include 'detectives who don't investigate, scholars who don't research, businessmen who don't do business, tourists who don't sightsee, and lovers who don't care,' according to the ministry. The ministry defines the 'detectives who don't investigate' as 'those foreign spies who use detective companies and consulting companies as cover' to seek out sensitive information in high-tech fields and military facilities 'under the pretext of verifying information and providing paid consultation.' In recent years, the regime has already cited its Related Stories 1/30/2025 9/12/2024 The ministry described the 'scholars who don't study' as those who frequently visit Chinese universities and research institutes 'under the banner of academic exchanges and scientific research cooperation' to collect sensitive information and core technology. The 'businessmen not doing business' refers to 'foreign spies pretending to be influential businessmen, using the guise of investment and cooperation, and using money and emotional seduction to carry out defection,' according to the ministry. The 'tourists not sightseeing' refers to those 'foreign agents who enter China under the guise of sightseeing, visiting relatives and friends, and conduct surveying and on-site search activities near military facilities and sensitive areas on their own or by inducing Chinese personnel.' As to the 'lovers who don't care,' the ministry said that foreign spies approach Chinese students studying abroad through developing romantic relationships with them or online dating to turn them. In addition to the five categories, the ministry said 'foreign spies may also disguise themselves as journalists, visa officers, non-governmental organization staff, and other identities.' The ministry told the Chinese public to 'be vigilant' and required them to report these so-called foreign spies and 'suspicious activities in a timely manner to state security agencies.' Lai Jianping, a former Beijing lawyer and president of the Canada-based Federation for a Democratic China, told The Epoch Times on May 26 that the Chinese communist regime itself does exactly what they warned in the article around the world. 'The spies [the Chinese regime] sends to all parts of the world are truly omnipresent,' Lai said. The agents working for the Chinese regime include 'those sent from China and those hired locally, both Chinese and Westerners, and they come from all kinds of different professions.' There have been increasing reports of Chinese expats and students stealing information and spying for the Chinese regime in the West, especially in the high-tech sector and around military facilities. 'So, the Chinese authorities think that the whole world, including those democratic countries, is acting the same as the Chinese rogue regime,' he said. Chinese nationals (background 3rd R and 2nd R) and their alleged Philippine accomplices (L and 2nd L), arrested for alleged espionage, are escorted out of a room by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents after a press conference at the NBI office in Manila on Feb. 25, 2025. Ted Aljibe / AFP Lai said the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) suspects everyone coming from outside is a spy and coerces all Chinese citizens to work for the Party to catch the so-called spies in order to maintain its authoritarian rule. He said the purpose of the CCP's Ministry of State Security to publish such an article calling on all Chinese to seek out the so-called foreign spies is to 'isolate China from the world and make Chinese people fall into a state of panic about national security, and inspire everyone to be vigilant and even hate outsiders.' It will produce 'a chilling effect', Lai said, as the spy catching 'will make the Chinese people fall into mutual suspicion, mutual denunciation, and everyone feels that they are in danger.' Police officers patrol outside the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing on July 15, 2024. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images Reminiscent of Mao's Era The Chinese regime is not really trying to prevent spies, but to create fear in Chinese society, Sheng Xue, vice chair of the Canada-based Federation for a Democratic China and a Chinese-Canadian writer, said of the Chinese ministry's article. 'Because one of the most important principles of the CCP's rule is based on fear, as it's essentially a terrorist rule, they are trying to intensify this fear in society,' she told The Epoch Times on May 26. She said the ministry's article includes journalists, tourists, businessmen, scholars, even foreign lovers, NGOs, and many other groups 'to make people immediately feel hostile, resistant, and vigilant against any foreigner or Chinese returned from the outside world, treating anyone who has any contact with the outside world as an enemy.' 'In Mao Zedong's era, they always did this,' she said. Mao was the Chinese communist leader of China from 1949 until his death in 1976. During Mao's era, the CCP locked down the country, antagonized anything foreign, Western, or democratic, and launched back-to-back mass political movements to purge 'enemies' from within, forcing Chinese people to watch, report, and denounce each other, including between family members. Sheng said that communist China is now very isolated internationally, as its aggressive expansion of political and economic influence has kept other countries on edge. 'The CCP undoubtedly feels such pressure, so they try to bind the Chinese together with it to treat the outside world as an enemy,' she said. Another reason for the spy-catching propaganda now, she said, is that the CCP is trying to shift people's focus from its current political and economic crises. 'The CCP needs to divert attention from the serious internal economic downturn, the people's discontent, social anxiety, youth unemployment, capital outflow, and other problems,' she said. 'So, it constantly uses the so-called national security or the so-called people's safety to set up a target, which is foreign hostile forces, to shift social conflicts outward.' Luo Ya and Xia Song contributed to this report.
DW
5 days ago
- Politics
- DW
Czech Republic summons Chinese ambassador over cyber attacks – DW – 05/28/2025
The attacks have happened since 2022 and have been attributed to cyber espionage actor APT31, which Prague alleges is linked to the Chinese Ministry of State Security. The Czech Republic summoned China's ambassador on Wednesday after saying Beijing was responsible for a "malicious cyber campaign" targeting a network used for unclassified communication at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The attacks have been ongoing since 2022 and were perpetrated by the cyber espionage actor APT31, which the Czech Republic, an EU state and NATO member, said was publicly associated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security. "I summoned the Chinese ambassador to make clear that such hostile actions have serious consequences for our bilateral relations," Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on social media platform X. "We call on the People's Republic of China to... refrain from such attacks and to take all appropriate measures to address this situation," said the ministry. Lipavsky added that "we detected the attackers during the intrusion". China singled out a security threat The Czech Security Information Office (BIS) singled out China as a threat to security in its 2024 annual report. "The Chinese embassy logically focuses on gaining information about the Czech political scene," the BIS said. Meanwhile, the government added in a statement that it "strongly condemns this malicious cyber campaign against its critical infrastructure." EU member states have increasingly been the target of cyber attacks from China in recent years and China should do more to prevent them, the European Union said on Wednesday. "States should not allow their territory to be used for malicious cyber activities," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in a statement. "We call upon all states, including China, to refrain from such behavior," she said. NATO also slammed the attack, saying it observed "with increasing concern the growing pattern of malicious cyber activities stemming from the People's Republic of China". "We remain committed to expose and counter the substantial, continuous and increasing cyber threat, including to our democratic systems and critical infrastructure." Prague's close ties to Taiwan angers China Prague has recently angered Beijing by fostering close ties with Taiwan as high-profile Czech delegations, including the parliament speaker, have visited the island while Taiwanese officials came to Prague several times. In May 2024, Lipavsky summoned the Russian ambassador over repeated cyberattacks targeting several European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. They blamed the attacks on the Russian group APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, which has ties to Russia's GRU military intelligence service. The BIS then said that Russia was a "permanent security threat" for the Czech Republic, which provides substantial humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, battling a Russian invasion since 2022. Beijing denied allegations that it engages in state-organised hacking of overseas targets. Edited by: Zac Crellin
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Czech FM summons Chinese ambassador over cyberattack
Czech Republic's finance minister Jan Lipavský (Image credit: X/ Jan Lipavský) China's ambassador to the Czech Republic was summoned on Wednesday over a cyberattack that targeted Prague's foreign ministry, Czech officials said. The Czech foreign ministry said an extensive investigation of the attack "led to a high degree of certainty about the responsible actor", naming it as China-linked group APT31. "I summoned the Chinese ambassador to make clear that such hostile actions have serious consequences for our bilateral relations," foreign minister Jan Lipavsky said on X. The foreign ministry said in a statement the attack started in 2022 and targeted "one of the unclassified networks" of the ministry. "The malicious activity... was perpetrated by the cyberespionage actor APT31 that is publicly associated with the (Chinese) Ministry of State Security," the ministry added, citing its investigation. "We call on the People's Republic of China to... refrain from such attacks and to take all appropriate measures to address this situation," said the ministry. Lipavsky said that "we detected the attackers during the intrusion". The Czech Security Information Office (BIS) singled out China as a threat to security in its 2024 annual report. "The Chinese embassy logically focuses on gaining information about the Czech political scene," the BIS said.
