China gives Australian writer Yang Hengjun suspended death sentence

Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been handed a suspended death sentence in China five years after being detained on espionage charges.

Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, said the government was “appalled” by the decision and had summoned the Chinese ambassador in Canberra to express its concerns.

Yang, a former Chinese official, novelist and blogger who became a prominent writer and Australian citizen, was detained by Chinese authorities in January 2019 in the southern city of Guangzhou.

The sentence, which could be commuted to see Yang spend the rest of his life behind bars, could derail a nascent rapprochement between the two countries after a years-long diplomatic deep-freeze.

It also comes months after the release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was detained for more than after three years in China on charges of supplying state secrets overseas.

Canberra and Beijing have sought to mend ties in recent months after two years of economic and security tensions that included incidents of military intimidation and China imposing trade tariffs and sanctions on a range of Australian goods.

Lei’s release preceded a state visit to China last year by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose predecessor Scott Morrison had angered Beijing by calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

China has also eased trade restrictions on crucial Australian exports including coal and barley.

Albanese raised the issue of Yang’s incarceration during his meeting with Chinese officials, after Yang’s sons had written to the Australian prime minister asking him to do all he could to achieve a “second miracle” following Lei’s release.

Yang’s case, however, is more complicated because the democracy advocate previously worked for the Chinese security service, according to Australian media reports.

Yaqiu Wang, research director for China at Freedom House, a US-based advocacy group, criticised the legal proceedings as “shrouded in secrecy and ridden with abuses” and ending with an “extremely cruel conviction”. She called for the Australian government to reassess its engagement with China.

Chongyi Feng, an academic at University of Technology Sydney who supervised Yang’s doctoral work, said the Australian government should seek medical parole to help the writer, whom he said was suffering from a kidney cyst, heart disease and high blood pressure.

In an interview with Australian broadcaster ABC, Feng said it was a “morally indefensible position for Australia to put short-term commercial interest before the dignity, basic human rights, even the life, of an Australian citizen”.

Wong declined to comment on Monday about whether the ruling would mark a setback for the reset in Australian-Chinese relations, saying that the ruling was decided under the Chinese legal system.

She added that she was not considering recalling Australia’s ambassador over the issue and said Canberra would continue to advocate for Yang, though she noted Australian officials were unable to attend his trial in 2021.

Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said the trial took place in “strict accordance” with the law, adding that the court respected Australia’s consular rights, including allowing diplomats to attend the sentencing.

Under China’s legal system, a two-year reprieve can be announced at the same time as a death sentence, which can later be commuted to life imprisonment or a fixed-term imprisonment of 25 years, according to an analysis by National University of Singapore legal expert Matthew Seet.