Yang Hengjun faces long wait to learn fate in China

Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun could be held under “house surveillance” for six months. That’s just for starters.

Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun. Picture: AP

Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun could be held under informal “house surveillance” in Beijing for six months, with limited access to his lawyers — before facing a possible period in formal detention while he awaits news of whether he will be charged.

If charged, he could face several years in jail, particularly if he is found guilty of the serious charge of “engaging in criminal activities that endanger China’s national ­security”. Yang is being held on suspicion of this activity.

The accusation of endangering national security in China could lead to a broad set of charges including espionage and political subversion.

Yang’s Beijing lawyer, Shang Baojun, said yesterday: “Espionage is a severe accusation/crime, which could lead to execution.”

He added that one case involving a foreign citizen had ended with the accused person sentenced to two years’ jail but then immediately expelled from the country. “It depends on the evidence,” he said.

In some cases, people in China can be detained on suspicion of serious offences but are later charged with lesser offences after an official investigation.

Former Rio Tinto employee Stern Hu, who headed up Rio’s operations in China at a time of high tensions over escalating iron ore prices being charged by ­Australian companies, was arrested in Shanghai in July 2009 initially on suspicion of stealing state secrets.

He was eventually accused of lesser charges of stealing commercial secrets and receiving bribes. In March 2010, he was sentenced to 10 years’ jail but was allowed out of prison after nine years last July when his sentence was reduced.

The accusation of “criminal ­activities endangering national security” was also levelled at two Canadians detained in China on December 10 — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — who are still waiting for news of their fate. Their arrest, almost two weeks after the arrest of Huawei chief ­financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on December 1, has led to a serious deterioration in Canada’s relations with China and fears that other Canadian citizens in China could be at risk of detention.

The Canadian government has reported that at least 11 other Can­adians have been detained in China since Ms Meng’s arrest but it appears that most of them have since been released.

China’s nationalistic Global Times newspaper rejected suggestions that Yang was arrested “simply because he criticised the Chinese government”, suggesting that he must have done something more serious to have warranted being arrested.