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The Chinese diaspora: Caught in the tangle of Australia-China ties

The fates of two Chinese-Australians detained by Beijing highlight the complex interplay of geopolitics and loyalties that the Chinese-Australian community finds itself in.

Yang Hengjun, whose legal name is Yang Jun, is a Chinese-Australian writer and blogger.

Yang Hengjun’s case had been closely watched in Australia, which saw his fate as one of the last significant obstacles to a further improvement in relations.

PHOTO: YANG HENGJUN/X

Jonathan Pearlman

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SYDNEY – In November 2023, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made

a landmark trip to China,

marking an apparent end to a recent era of dismal ties between the two countries. But the elation was short-lived. On Feb 5, 2024, it emerged that a court in Beijing had delivered

a suspended death sentence to Yang Hengjun,

a Chinese-Australian pro-democracy writer and former Chinese official, on espionage charges.

Yang’s case had been closely watched in Australia, which saw his fate as one of the last significant obstacles to a further improvement in relations. Hopes for Yang’s prospects had been raised in 2023 by the

release from a Chinese prison of Chinese-Australian journalist Cheng Lei,

whose joyous return to her family in Australia made news across the country.

The Chinese diaspora: Caught in the tangle of Australia-China ties

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