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Australia-China relations: Canberra voices ‘outrage’ at suspended death sentence for writer Yang Jun
- The Chinese-Australian writer was sentenced to death on Monday, with a two-year suspended execution, after being found guilty of espionage
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday described it as a ‘very harsh sentence on Dr Yang, who is a man who’s not in good health’
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Beijing court hands down suspended death sentence to Australian writer Yang Jun for spying
Beijing court hands down suspended death sentence to Australian writer Yang Jun for spying
Australia’s government said on Tuesday it had expressed “outrage” to China over a suspended death sentence handed to Chinese-Australian dissident writer Yang Jun.
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Yang was sentenced to death on Monday with a two-year suspended execution, and had all of his property confiscated, the Chinese foreign ministry said. A Beijing court found him guilty of “espionage”, a ministry spokesman said.
The sentence sent a chill through Australia-China relations, which had been improving after a years-long stand-off.
Australia has conveyed “our dismay, our despair, our frustration, but to put it really simply, our outrage at this verdict,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
“This is a very harsh sentence on Dr Yang, who is a man who’s not in good health, and we will continue to make the strongest representations,” the Australian leader said.
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Australia’s foreign ministry said it understood the sentence may be commuted to life imprisonment if no “serious crimes” are committed for two years.
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