The Australian government is rethinking how to help citizens embroiled in “hostage diplomacy” as it marks the 1,000th day of the journalist Cheng Lei’s detention in China.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, called for Cheng to be reunited with her children, saying the government shared “the deep concerns of her family and friends about the ongoing delays in her case”.
Cheng remains in limbo after the verdict in a closed national security trial was delayed multiple times. Tuesday will be her 1,000th day in detention in China.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has quietly introduced two measures that could lead to changes in how it deals with complex or protracted consular cases in future.
This includes asking some former detainees to join a new external advisory group to provide views on media tactics and how to support them after their release.
“The group enables Dfat to draw on more views from the experience of former consular clients, their families and subject matter experts and incorporate their first-hand experiences into the way we work,” a spokesperson for the department said.
Dfat has not revealed the membership of the new group but said its first meeting was in April and it would gather at least twice a year.
“The group’s discussion included how Dfat engages with families of consular clients – particularly during protracted cases, harnessing media interest during high-profile cases and how best to support consular clients on their return to Australia,” the spokesperson said.
Dfat said the moves followed talks with Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the British Australian academic who survived 804 days detained in Iran.
Moore-Gilbert has previously expressed doubts about Dfat’s preference to handle cases of citizens detained abroad with “quiet diplomacy”.
This can include encouraging family and friends to avoid speaking to the media in the hope of creating space for a quiet resolution. Moore-Gilbert said last year she believed public attention and pressure “played a really important role in my release”.
Dfat said Wong had ordered officials to “ensure our methods are fit for purpose”.
In addition to the new external panel, Dfat plans to establish “a complex case committee at deputy secretary level to ensure sustained, high-level attention on these cases across commonwealth agencies”.
This committee will be required to “consider all strategic and tactical levers available to the government to resolve cases”.
The shadow foreign affairs minister, Simon Birmingham, said he was pleased the department was “willing to consider new ways of managing cases which could be characterised as hostage diplomacy”.
Birmingham, who had asked about the issue during Senate estimates hearings, said there “initially seemed little appetite from the government or department to consider alternative approaches”.
“This is despite receiving considered proposals from Dr Moore-Gilbert and her co-authors, which included several Australians previously detained in similar circumstances as well as the partners of Australians who are currently or had been detained,” he said.
Birmingham urged the government to value “the expertise of those who have lived through such situations as well as those involved in securing the release of hostages”.
“Alarmingly, hostage diplomacy seems to be an increasing phenomenon and one that has affected a number of Australians including Dr Moore-Gilbert, Peter Greste, Prof Sean Turnell and others,” he said.
Turnell, an Australian economist, was released from prison in Myanmar last year after the Australian government engaged directly with the military junta. He was a former adviser to the democratically elected civilian government led by the detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Australian government has vowed to keep advocating for Cheng and for Yang Hengjun, an Australian writer and democracy activist who also is detained in China, including whenever ministers hold talks with their Chinese counterparts.
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