Australian writer detained while visiting China, friend says

Yang Hengjun

Writer and former Chinese diplomat Yang Hengjun, who is now an Australian citizen, has been detained by the Chinese government, according to one of his friends.

Yang boarded a flight from New York to the southeastern Chinese city of Guangzhou and was scheduled to arrive at 5 a.m. on Saturday, Feng Chongyi, an associate professor in China studies at the University of Technology Sydney, told Bloomberg News yesterday. Yang was then due to catch a connecting flight to Shanghai with his wife and daughter, but he never made it through security, Feng said.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she wasn’t aware of Yang’s situation at a news briefing in Beijing yesterday.

The Australian first reported that Yang was feared missing. Asked to confirm that Yang had been detained, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Bloomberg News it was “seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China.” Australian Defense Minister Christopher Pyne is scheduled to arrive in China today as part of a previously announced visit.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Yang hasn’t communicated or posted anything on social media since Friday. Yang had previously worked in the Chinese Foreign Affairs Department in Beijing, before becoming an Australian citizen and a novelist, the Australian newspaper said. He has been living in the U.S. with his wife and stepson and had returned to China late last week, it said.

Feng said he spoke with contacts at the Ministry of State Security, China’s spy agency, and he believes Yang is being held there in Beijing.

The ministry has been in the global spotlight in recent months amid tensions between the U.S. and China. After a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive was arrested in Canada on a U.S. extradition request, MSS agents detained two Canadians in China, sparking a diplomatic feud. It’s been involved in high profile detentions of foreigners and has put dissidents under house arrest without criminal charges.

Feng, who researches human rights, said pressure on the global Chinese diaspora has escalated in recent years. He was detained in China for more than a week in 2017. At the time, his lawyer told the Guardian newspaper that Chinese authorities had cited “national security” in barring him from leaving the country. Karen Leigh, Bloomberg