Australian writer Yang Hengjun jailed in China shows ‘profound courage’, Canberra says

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By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian writer Yang Hengjun, handed a suspended death sentence last year by a Beijing court, has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seeking support for a medical transfer home, a letter released by his supporters shows.

An Australian citizen born in China, Yang was working in New York when he was arrested in 2019 at the airport in China’s southern city of Guangzhou. The pro-democracy blogger and spy novelist was convicted on espionage charges he denies.

Canberra wants to see Yang “home in Australia, reunited with his family”, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in response to the missive.

“The prime minister and I were deeply moved by Dr Yang’s letter – a message of profound courage, resilience and hope despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances,” she said in a statement.

China’s foreign ministry has previously said all procedures were followed in Yang’s case.

A suspended death sentence in China grants a two-year reprieve from execution, before automatically getting converted to life in jail, or more rarely, a fixed term.

The letter was released a day after Albanese’s centre-left Labor government was sworn into office for a second term, following its victory in a May 3 election.

In the January 10 letter, written from Beijing’s No.2 Prison, Yang reflected on his sixth year of jail in China and his gratitude to Australia for helping his family.

Albanese had “repeatedly conveyed your grave concerns about my case and deteriorating health to China’s paramount leader”, he wrote.

“I know you and the Australian government endeavour to do your utmost to bring me home for medical care and reunification with my family,” he said in the letter, a copy of which was viewed by Reuters.

In February Wong said Australia had “serious concerns” about Dr Yang’s health and conditions.

Yang, who worked as an employee of China’s Ministry of State Security from 1989 to 1999, was accused of spying for a country China has not publicly identified in a case whose details have not been made public.

The sentence, handed down three years after his closed-door trial on espionage charges, shocked his family, including two sons who live in Australia, and supporters.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)