Marise Payne says arrest on spying charges does not appear to be retribution for any Australian policies to Beijing

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Australia will continue to press for Yang Hengjun’s release, despite the Chinese government demanding Canberra stop interfering in the high-profile case, Australia’s foreign minister has said, insisting the Australian’s arrest on espionage charges is not a case of “hostage diplomacy”.

Yang, an Australian author and pro-democracy blogger, has been detained, largely in solitary confinement, for seven months, and authorities in China have now announced he will be charged with espionage, an offence which potentially carries the death penalty.

China espionage charges: Australian Yang Hengjun 'not a spy' says foreign minister Read more

Marise Payne has repeatedly denied Yang was a spy for Australia, saying “there is no basis for those allegations”. Payne said Yang was being held in “harsh conditions” in China without access to lawyers or his family, and demanded his conditions be improved or he be released.

“We are seeking for Dr Yang’s detention, obviously for him to be released in the first instance, particularly if he is only being held for his political beliefs.

“But … if he is to be detained, that he is detained in accordance with the expectations afforded to him through conventions and international law and they include access to lawyers, and they include appropriate conditions of detention.”

Australian consular officials met with Yang in a Beijing ministry of state security detention centre on Tuesday. The government will be briefed on that meeting and Yang’s condition.

At a press conference in Sydney on Wednesday morning, Payne said it did not appear that 54-year-old Yang had been arrested as retribution for any Australian policies towards Beijing. When the Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in December, they were widely seen – even obliquely conceded by Beijing – as acts of retribution for the arrest in Canada of a senior executive from Chinese technology company Huawei.

“We have no reason to think it [Yang’s arrest] is connected to other issues,” Payne said.

Yang’s Beijing lawyer, Shang Baojun, told the Guardian it appeared that Yang had not been physically tortured, but it was unclear whether he had been subject to mental torture – such as extended interrogations, 24-hour-a-day lighting, and threats to family members – as experienced by scores of other Chinese human rights activists.

Asked whether consular briefings on Yang had reported any evidence of maltreatment or torture, Payne said: “We want to make it very clear that under no circumstances should any Australian citizen be exposed to any treatment of that sort.

“Post [Australia’s embassy in Beijing] is continuing to advocate with Chinese authorities to ensure that he is detained in a manner that is in accord with international obligations.”

At a press briefing in Beijing, the foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang warned Australia against advocating on Yang’s behalf.

“China deplores the Australian statement on this case. I would like to reiterate that China is a country with rule of law. Australia should respect China’s judicial sovereignty and not interfere in any way in China’s lawful handling of the case.”

Geng insisted Yang was being afforded due process.

“The national security organ handles the case in accordance with law and fully guarantees Yang’s rights. He is in good physical condition.”

Yang was formerly a diplomat for the People’s Republic of China’s ministry of foreign affairs, before working in the private sector in Hong Kong and moving to the US, then to Australia. A novelist under the nom de plume Wei Shi, he has been a popular blogger, political commentator and agitator for democratic reforms in China for more than a decade.

Kevin Rudd accuses Liberals of stirring up hysteria about China Read more

Yang, who became an Australian citizen in 2002, had been living in the United States, where he was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, before flying to Guangzhou with his family in January. His wife and child were able to enter China, but authorities escorted Yang from the plane into detention.

He is the latest in a string of foreign nationals to be arrested in China and charged with espionage or attempting to steal state secrets.

Three Canadians have been detained: in addition to Kovrig and Spavor, the billionaire businessman Xiao Jianhua was abducted from a luxury hotel in 2017.

The Chinese-born Swedish author and bookseller Gui Minhai was twice seized, once from Thailand and once while inside China, and remains in detention.

And Simon Cheng, a staff member with the British consulate in Hong Kong, was detained in mainland China for more than two weeks, before being released this month, having “confessed to his illegal acts”, according to local police, though these were not specified.

He was accused by Chinese state media of visiting prostitutes, although his supporters said they did not believe this.