Canberra challenges Beijing over spying arrest
Writer charged on suspicion of espionage
The Australian Government says it is “very concerned” that a Chinese Australian writer has been formally arrested in China in what appears to be the latest case of Beijing taking hostages as leverage in disputes with Western governments.
Yang Hengjun has been in Chinese custody since he arrived in southern China’s Guangzhou from New York on January 19 with his wife Yuan Xiaoliang and his 14-year-old stepdaughter. China revealed in July that the 54-year-old academic and former Chinese government official had been detained.
“The Government is very concerned and disappointed to learn that Australian citizen and academic Dr Yang Hengjun . . . was formally arrested in China on suspicion of espionage,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said yesterday. She described him as being held in “harsh conditions” without access to his lawyers or family visits, though embassy officials have visited him.
China’s Foreign Ministry has said Yang was suspected of engaging in criminal activities that endanger China’s security, but Yang’s Australian lawyer, Rob Stary, said the basis of the espionage charge remains unclear. “We think it relates to espionage on behalf of Australia, but it’s not specified on the charge sheet,” Stary said. “We’d obviously be disturbed by that if it was the allegation, because there is absolutely no foundation for it at all.”
Stary suspects the espionage charge relates to Yang’s democracy activism. “He’s a blogger and that’s what he does — he’s an academic, he’s of a different ilk,” Stary said.
Yang has held Australian citizenship since 2002 and has a doctorate from the University of Technology Sydney. He had been living in New York as a visiting scholar at Columbia University.
Yang was detained one month after China took into custody two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who have since been arrested and charged with serious offences.
Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who had been working as a China analyst for the International Crisis Group thinktank, is accused of spying and stealing sensitive information and intelligence through contacts in China. Spavor, a Canadian businessman who promoted exchanges with North Korea, was Kovrig’s “main intelligence contact” and provided intelligence to him, the authorities said. Neither has had access to a lawyer or family members since they were detained.
Both cases appear to have links to disputes over Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that is trying to become the world leader in 5G technology.
Payne said she had discussed with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi the Australian Government’s concerns about Yang’s detainment.
“We have serious concerns for Dr Yang’s welfare and about the conditions under which he is being been held,” Payne said.
“It is important, and we expect, that basic standards of justice and procedural fairness are met.”