Lawyers haven’t seen writer Yang Hengjun held in China

The government has expressed concern that detained Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun has not had access to legal advice.

Detained Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun. Picture: AAP

The federal government has expressed concern that Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun has not had access to legal advice since his arrest in China last month.

“Australia remains concerned that Mr Yang has not had access to legal representation during his detention, as we would for any Australian who is detained for lengthy periods of time,” a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

The spokesperson said the government was unable to confirm reports that Yang had rejected lawyers who were appointed by his family to represent him after his arrest at Guangzhou international airport on January 19 after a flight from New York.

But Australian consul­ar offic­ials would raise the issue directly with him during their next visit, at the end of the month.

Yang, who has not been charged with any offence, is being held in “residential surveillance” at an undisclosed location in Beijing, with no access to visits by his family or lawyers appointed by his family. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he had been arrested on suspicion of “criminal activities endangering state secur­ity”.

The phrase is a broad term, which includes allegations of spying and political subversion that could lead to him spending many years in jail if found guilty.

He has been allowed one consular visit from the Australian embassy in Beijing on January 25, the day after a visit to the Chinese capital by Defence Minister Christopher Pyne.

Lawyers appointed by the family of Yang, a Chinese-born Australian citizen, have been told by the Beijing State Security Burea­u that he no longer wanted them to act for him, but have been unable to meet with him to confirm this in person.

One of his lawyers, Shang Baojun, told The Weekend Australian that they and his wife, who is living in Shanghai, are still trying to meet Yang to hear whether he wanted them to represent him.

Yang was briefly detained in China in 2011. He said after his release that he had been hospitalised and his mobile phone had died. But friends recently released a letter from him apologising for lying about the event.