Yang Hengjun: Friends believe writer has been charged with espionage

Australian Yang Hengjun has been charged with espionage, his friends say, as his family hire a prominent Beijing lawyer.

Yang Hengjun. Picture: Supplied

Australian writer Yang Hengjun accused by China of threatening “state security”, and his family have enlisted the services of a prominent Beijing lawyer known for dealing with sensitive human rights cases.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Thursday he had been arrested by Beijing Municipal Sate Security Bureau and was suspected of “endangering state security”.

Mr Yang’s friend, University of Technology Professor Feng Chongyi said Mr Yang’s family has employed Chinese lawyer Mo Shaoping to assist with the case.

Dr Feng said Mr Mo had told him today that Mr Yang was being held in “residential surveillance at a designated location”.

The term refers to a form of detention in China where a suspect is held at an unknown location.

Earlier, Marise Payne urged China to deal with the detention of Mr Yang “transparently and fairly”.

The Foreign Minister also revealed Australian diplomats had been meeting with Chinese government officials about the case.

“The Chinese authorities gave formal notification to our Embassy in Beijing last night that they have detained Mr Yang Hengjun, an Australian citizen. We will continue to make representations to China to ensure that this matter is dealt with transparently and fairly,” Senator Payne said in a statement.

“Our Embassy in Beijing will meet with Chinese authorities this morning to seek further clarification of the nature of this detention and to arrange consular access at the earliest possible opportunity, in accordance with the bilateral consular agreement.”

Beijing confirmed that it was holding the prominent Chinese-Australian writer whose friends believe he was arrested by security officials at Guangzhou airport.

The uncertain fate of Mr Yang, a novelist and thinker on Chinese politics, has cast a dark cloud over Defence Minister Christopher Pyne’s visit to China today.

After urgent inquiries last night by Australian diplomats over Mr Yang’s disappearance, Canberra confirmed he had been detained and Australian officials were trying to visit him.

“On 23 January the Chinese authorities informed the Australian Embassy in Beijing that they have detained Mr Yang Hengjun,” the department said in a press release.

“The Department is seeking to clarify the nature of this detention and to obtain consular access to him, in accordance with the bilateral consular agreement, as a matter of priority.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said the “slow” consular notification by Chinese authorities of Mr Yang’s detention was “disappointing”.

“Yes, it is disappointing. It’s not the way the arrangements are meant to work,” he told ABC radio.

“It’s been a slow response from the Chinese government to talk to the Australian government.”

The incident comes after Australia publicly protested against China’s detention of two Canadian citizens, entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig — an action seen as a possible retaliation against Ottawa’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Mr Spavor and Mr Kovrig were also accused of “endangering state security”.

Mr Yang was detained by a squad of security agents as he waited in a queue at Guangzhou airport, according to sources.

Yang — who previously worked as a Chinese official — has been living in the US but is an Australian citizen.

He returned to China late last week with his wife and her child, despite warnings from friends that it might not be safe.

Yang’s friend and University of Technology Sydney academic Feng Chongyi told The Australian he believed the writer was detained by a group of security officials after he passed through Customs in Guangzhou airport on his Australian passport on Saturday.

“His wife and his wife’s daughter took a flight from New York to Guangzhou on the 18th of January and arrived in Guangzhou at 5am on the 19th of January — that’s the Saturday morning — then their relatives and friends get in touch with them on the understanding they will take the 7.20am flight to Shanghai,” Dr Feng said.

“But they did not take the original flight and by 7pm on Saturday the 19th, Yang Jun’s wife and daughter arrived in Shanghai without Yang Jun.”

Yang Hengjun.

Dr Feng said the officials took Yang to Beijing, while his wife, Yuan Rui Juan, who travelled on Chinese documents, was ­allowed to drop her child in Shanghai before also transiting to Beijing.

“My judgment is they were interrogated by [authorities] in Guangzhou airport for 12 hours and reached some sort of agreement that his wife was allowed to send the child back to family in Shanghai but was required to join Yang Jun in Beijing.”

Dr Feng said he believed Yang was being held by the Ministry of State Security on espionage changes, but this has not been confirmed by Chinese authorities.

The Australian has been told that Yang’s wife is no longer in custody. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed yesterday it was asking Chinese authorities about Yang and said he had been reported missing.

Under a diplomatic agreement between China and Australia, the Chinese government in theory has to notify the Australian embassy within three days of detaining an Australian citizen in China.

Mr Pyne noted that Beijing had breached a consular agreement aimed at providing diplomats notification to those who have been detailed within three days, and consular access within five days.

“It took four days for that [notification] to be provided to Australia. Obviously, that is disappointing and we’ll be raisingthat too with Chinese Government officials. In terms of Mr Yang’s welfare, it’s not immediately apparent that that’s had any impact on it, but obviously that’s the kind of information that we’re trying to access”.

Mr Pyne said he planned to raise the matter with China’s Minister for National Defence General Wei Fenghe and inquire aboutMr Yang’s welfare.

While he is an Australian citizen, his friends say his wife is not and is seeking Australian residency. He also has family members who reside in Australia.

Yang is an influential Chinese-language blogger who has written a series of international spy novels. He has been a critic of the Chinese government and an advocate for democracy.