Yang Hengjun: Detained Australian set to learn fate in China

Yang Hengjun will on Thursday learn the proposed sentence for the espionage charge made against him by the Chinese state.

Australian Yang Hengjun, who is detained in Beijing.

Yang Hengjun will learn the proposed sentence for the espionage charge made against him by the Chinese state the day after the Morrison government and Labor opposition launched a bipartisan defence of the Australian citizen.

One of Dr Yang’s lawyers will on Thursday visit the 55-year-old at the Beijing detention centre where supporters say he has been interrogated over 300 times by China’s secret police.

The Australian can also reveal that judges have been appointed to the case, which will be formally held in the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court.

“They feel they are ready,” said Feng Chongyi, a friend of Dr Yang’s and a professor at the University of Technology Sydney.

The speedy appointment of judges after the case was formally moved to the Beijing court last week indicates a verdict on the highly politicised 21-month long state security case could be delivered within weeks. A date for the trial is still to be set.

Dr Yang – a charismatic writer on Chinese politics with a huge following, as well as a remarkable backstory as a former Chinese intelligence officer – has become one Australia’s highest profile consular cases.

On Wednesday evening, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the Australian government was “disappointed and deeply concerned” about the prosecution of Dr Yang, who has a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney.

“We regret that after a lengthy investigation period Chinese authorities have stated that he has been charged with espionage. We have seen no evidence to support this charge,” she said, continuing the government’s unusually public treatment of the case.

In a statement released shortly after Labor’s shadow foreign minister Penny Wong made explicit that the concern was bipartisan.

“Labor is deeply disappointed and concerned that Chinese authorities have decided to prosecute Australian citizen Dr Yang Hengjun on charges of espionage. We join with the Government to call on the Chinese authorities to explain these charges,” said Ms Wong, in the synchronised statement.

She also noted comments made by former Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Madam Fu Ying, last week to Australian media “on the need for both China and Australia to build mutual understanding and trust in our relationship”.

“We share these objectives and believe it is in both countries’ interests to have a productive relationship. The treatment of Dr Yang is detrimental to these objectives,” she said.

Dr Yang has been in detention in the compound in the south of Beijing since he was detained at Guangzhou airport in January 2019 – six months after the Turnbull government became the first in the world to ban Chinese telco Huawei from its 5G network.

Minister Payne noted that he had not been allowed visits from family and had only limited legal access in that almost two year period.

“This falls short of basic standards of justice and procedural fairness, and is not compatible with international norms or best practice,” she said.

On Thursday, Dr Yang will meet his legal team at the Beijing compound under the watch of security guards.

His lawyers on Tuesday were given access to the Chinese state’s indictment documents, which include the charge of espionage, the evidence of the charge and the proposed sentence.

The meeting – expected to run for an hour – will be his first contact with them since the charge was lodged in the court.