Six months on, Chinese-Australian writer still detained by Beijing

Yang, a visiting scholar at Columbia University and living in the US, was arrested by the Chinese authorities on suspicion of “endangering national security” at a time when he and his wife were trying to board a plane to Shanghai.

Hyderabad: In what could be called a gross violation of human rights, popular Chinese-Australian writer and online commentator Yang Hengjun is still in a detention camp since last six months after his arrest at Guangzhou airport in China on 19 January 2019.

Yang, a visiting scholar at Columbia University and living in the US, was arrested by the Chinese authorities on suspicion of “endangering national security” at a time when he and his wife were trying to board a plane to Shanghai.

This is not the very first time when Yang was detained. He had suddenly disappeared by for two days in 2011.

He worked with the Chinese foreign ministry during 1980s. Though he has taken Australian citizenship since 2002, Canberra or media has not extended any supporting hand towards his release.

The matter gained some limelight when Yang's wife Yuan Xiaoliang was barred from leaving China on 7 July 2019. Incidentally, Yuan is also a permanent resident of Australia.

Yang's friend Feng Chongyi, who is a professor at University of Technology Sydney, was also detained for a week in China in 2017. He was also detained under the suspicion of threatening state security.

The Chinese-Australian writer, who was running a website though not functional now, has been a critic of China’s lack of democracy.

The exact reason behind his continuing detention is not clear so far. It is believed that he may be a victim of hostage diplomacy.