Australia says one of its nationals, a former Chinese diplomat, being held in Beijing
Australia said on Thursday author Yang Hengjun was detained shortly after he flew in to the southern city of Guangzhou from New York last week, but it did not believe his detention was the result of rising tensions between China and the West.
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said Australia, under existing diplomatic conventions, would normally expect to be told of such a case within three days. Yang went missing on Friday and Canberra was not told until four days later, he said.
“Obviously that is disappointing and we’ll be raising that ... with Chinese government officials,” Pyne told reporters in Beijing, where he arrived on Thursday for previously scheduled talks.
“He’s being held in residential surveillance, which we would normally describe as home detention ... my understanding is it’s in Beijing,” he said.
China has so far not commented publicly about Yang’s case.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks after two Canadians, a diplomat on unpaid leave and a consultant, were arrested in China on suspicion of endangering state security.
Those arrests were widely seen in the West as retaliation by Beijing for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a senior Huawei Technologies executive, in Canada on Dec. 1. She is accused of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said staff from Australia’s embassy met Chinese officials on Thursday to seek answers and, while details were limited, she said there was no evidence that it was linked to Australian criticism of Beijing’s detention of the two Canadians.
“At this stage there is no evidence of such a connection ... but I’d be concerned if there was an indication of that,” she told reporters in Sydney.
“We are calling on the Chinese authorities to ensure this matter is dealt with transparently and fairly,” Payne said.
Post a Comment