The Australian government said on Tuesday it was “very concerned and disappointed” that a Chinese Australian writer had been formally arrested in China on suspicion of espionage.
Yang Hengjun has been in Chinese custody since he arrived in southern China’s Guangzhou from New York on Jan. 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.
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.
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.
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