Australia’s ambassador to China was denied entry to a heavily-guarded Beijing court on Thursday where the espionage case against Australian writer Yang Hengjun has begun.
Graham Fletcher, Australia's ambassador to China, attempted to enter the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court in line with a two-way consular pact.
"Unfortunately, we have just been denied entry to the court. The reason given was because of the pandemic situation, but the foreign ministry has also told us it is because it is a national security case therefore we are not permitted to attend it," Mr Fletcher told reporters outside the court.
"This is deeply regrettable and concerning and unsatisfactory. We have had long-standing concerns about this case, including lack of transparency, and therefore have concluded it is an instance of arbitrary detention."
Details of the case have been shrouded in secrecy, with no information released on which espionage agency Dr Yang is alleged to have acted for. If convicted, he faces a jail term of 10 years or more on charges of endangering national security.
Australian Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher outside the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court ahead of the trial of Yang Hengjun on 27 May, 2021. Source: AFP
China's foreign ministry confirmed the case had begun, but reiterated that it would be a closed trial as it involved "state secrets".
"[The] case involves state secrets, and is not held in open court in accordance with the law, with no arrangements for observers to sit-in. This is entirely lawful and reasonable," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.
He said the verdict would be given at "a later date."
Dr Yang, an Australian citizen born in China was detained by Chinese authorities in January 2019 at Guangzhou Airport after arriving from New York.
Since his detention, the 56-year-old blogger has had no access to his family and limited access to his lawyer.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne has called for Dr Yang to be given a fair trial.
"I very much hope Dr Yang is provided with a fair trial but we have not seen any explanation or evidence of the charges brought against him," she told ABC radio on Thursday morning.
"We are not interfering in China’s legal system, the concerns we’ve raised are legitimate ones."
She said Australian diplomats have sought to observe Dr Yang's hearing and raised concerns over his "delayed and limited" access to legal representation, and she expects "basic international standards of justice to be met".
Human rights lawyers Mo Shaoping and Shang Baojun will represent Dr Yang when he appears at Thursday's proceedings in the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court, which was closed to the public.
Police lined the front of the court, their presence extending a block away, and checked the identities of journalists who were refused entry.
Dr Yang's wife, Yuan Xiaoliang, who has been unable to see him since the couple was stopped at the southern airport of Guangzhou in January 2019, applied to attend the court hearing but was rejected, friends told Reuters.
In , understood to have been dictated from detention in March, Dr Yang said his health had deteriorated but they should not worry because he had "no fear".
"If someone wants to take revenge on me for my writings, please explain to the people inside China what I did, and the significance of my writing to people in China," he said, according to a copy of the message seen by SBS News.
Diplomatic ties between the two nations have deteriorated sharply since Dr Yang was detained, with China imposing trade sanctions on produce from Australia and reacting angrily to its call for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, as well as its 5G ban on telecoms giant Huawei.
Dr Yang wrote about Chinese and American politics online as a high-profile blogger, and also penned a series of spy novels.
His January 2019 detention came at the same time as a Chinese police crackdown on potential foreign interference and "colour revolution".
Dr Yang had previously been arrested in 2011 in China on suspicion of being involved in the short-lived "Jasmine Revolution" protests and released after three days.
He wrote in a letter to his supporters in Australia after he was released that he had once worked for the Chinese state security agency in Hong Kong and Washington, before migrating to Australia in 1999.
With SBS News.
