China on Tuesday refused to disclose why an Australian journalist working as an anchor for state TV has been detained for a period of two weeks, reported AFP.

Cheng Lei, an anchor for CGTN, China’s English language state-controlled broadcaster, has been held since August 14. Australia, however, has alleged that Beijing has given no reason for her detention.

Cheng Lei has not been seen in public since August 14, but Australian envoys in Beijing had been in contact with her till August 27.

A foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing that “I can’t give you any specifics,”adding, “But you know China is a country governed by law… we will handle things according to the law.”

Lei is a China-born journalist, who until recently bagged a high profile as a business news presenter on CGTN.

Relations between China and Australia have withered recently over Australia’s push for a probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have deteriorated over security concerns of Chinese technology and other security concerns.

Australian minister for trade, tourism, and investment, Simon Birmingham told ABC News on Tuesday “Our concerns for Ms Cheng are genuine and real.”

Australian media has reported that Cheng is being held under “residential surveillance.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists have demanded the immediate release of Cheng Lei or disclose the reasons for holding her. The organisation has also called China the “World’s leading jailer of journalists.”

AFP claimed that the detention of Cheng Lei has sent shockwaves through the Chinese foreign journalist community.

Lei has been critical of Chinese Premier Xi Jing on Facebook and has written several posts condemning the President and China’s approach to the COVID-19 outbreak.  

A post by Lei on Facebook in March had also poked fun at XI’s visit to Wuhan stating “the big story today, Dear Leader’s visit, triggered titters in the newsroom — waving to a big TV screen showing the coronavirus hospital in Wuhan apparently equals a visit.”

She had also written, “In China… ‘serve the people’ goes the slogans [sic]… [the] reality is the opposite.”

Lei has been critical of the communist regime in China, criticising it at various turns on social media platforms.