{"id":460076,"date":"2026-02-05T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460076\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T12:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:56:12","slug":"federal-government-praises-australian-writers-resilience-after-seven-years-detained-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/460076\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal government praises Australian writer&#8217;s &#8216;resilience&#8217; after seven years detained in China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The federal government has praised the resilience of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/national\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Australian \">Australian<\/a> writer Yang Jun,\ufeff who has been detained in China since 2019, on an alarming anniversary.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Minister Penny Wong \ufeffoffered her thoughts to him and his family.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/75ff2b4c-9d1d-489c-8b92-2642e1c9cdbd.jpeg\"   alt=\"Yang Hengjun, left, poses with a family member in Beijing. Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said  her government was &quot;deeply disappointed&quot; that the Chinese-Australian writer was placed in criminal detention in Beijing six months after he was taken into custody at a Chinese airport.\"\/>Yang Hengjun, left, poses with a family member in Beijing.  (AAP)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today marks two years since Australian citizen, Dr Yang Jun, received a suspended death sentence in Beijing,&#8221; she said today.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dr Yang has demonstrated remarkable resilience and fortitude in the face of great challenges for the past seven years of his detention.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today our thoughts are with Dr Yang and his loved ones. We want to see him reunited with his family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yang was detained in January 2019 on espionage charges after arriving in Guangzhou from New York.<\/p>\n<p>He has maintained his innocence.<\/p>\n<p>He was tried behind closed doors two years later, but a verdict was delayed until February 5, 2024, when he was given a suspended death sentence.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government understands the sentence could be dropped to life in jail following two years of good behaviour. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/f67e21d4-a8aa-4d58-8c03-74d463a3c6a7.jpeg\"   alt=\"Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun attends a lecture at Beijing Institute of Technology in Beijing, China, in 2010. \"\/>Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun attends a lecture at Beijing Institute of Technology in 2010.  (AAP)<\/p>\n<p>There may also be an appeal process he is able to pursue.<\/p>\n<p>But Yang&#8217;s family and supporters grew concerned when he revealed he is suffering from a large cyst on his kidney.<\/p>\n<p>They fear he could die in prison without adequate medical care. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>Australia&#8217;s relationship with China has improved after the lifting of trade sanctions, diplomatic visits and the release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei from detention in 2023. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>Wong said the federal government was continuing to advocate for Yang at every occasion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Australian government has made clear to China that we remain appalled by Dr Yang&#8217;s suspended death sentence,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dr Yang is entitled to basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment, in accordance with international norms and China&#8217;s legal obligations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We advocate consistently for Dr Yang&#8217;s welfare and conditions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government has praised the resilience of Australian writer Yang Jun,\ufeff who has been detained in China&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-460076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}