Yang Hengjun whose legal name is Yang Jun, is a Chinese-Australian writer and blogger. According to Yang's own accounts, he studied at Fudan University. After graduating, Yang worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. China's Foreign Ministry denied Yang had ever been employed by the ministry, according to a Reuters report in 2019. From 1992 to 1997, Yang worked in Hong Kong as the manager of a mainland Chinese company. Afterwards, he went to the U.S. as a senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. Yang is believed to become an Australian citizen in the early 2000s, while still holding a PRC passport.. Yang is regarded as a divisive figure among overseas Chinese dissidents and activists. Yang is currently under arrest by the Chinese Government, facing one charge of espionage, but the basis of the charge was unknown.
Personal life
Yang has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York for two years before being detained in China in January 2019. Yang is married to a prominent nationalist blogger, Yuan Ruijuan.
Career
Yang was a diplomat for the People's Republic of China, working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China's Foreign Ministry denied Yang had ever been employed by the ministry, according to a Reuters report in 2019. Based on his abundant personal experience "within the Chinese system", Yang wrote spy novels in English and Chinese, under the pen name Wei Shi. His first novel, Fatal Weakness, is the first in his spy trilogy using himself as a role model. It is the story of a U.S.-China double agent who ultimately works for neither side but instead serves his own personal agenda. It is only available on his blog and is written only in Chinese. There are no other translations available. In U.S., Yang spent most of his time running a “daigou” store on China's popular mobile platform WeChat, selling luxury bags, vitamins, baby formula and watches procured overseas for buyers inside China. Some critics said Yang stopped criticising the ruling Chinese Communist Party in favour of protecting his personal and business interests.
Detentions
2011
On 20 March 2011, it was alleged Yang disappeared from Guangzhou airport after phoning a friend to report that three men were following him. Commentators believe that he was detained as a result of government crackdown on activists, lawyers and bloggers following calls for a 'Jasmine' revolution in China since February 2011. He later contacted his family in Australia saying his disappearance was all a "misunderstanding" and "I've been sick, nothing else, and my phone battery was dead for two days so I could not contact my family. I'm very sorry about stirring up so much trouble in both countries."
2019
On 18 January 2019, he was again detained by Chinese authorities. He had arrived in Guangzhou from the U.S. due to the imminent expiry of his family's visas, with his wife and daughter. He was awaiting Australian visas for his wife and daughter. During a connection, he was arrested while on his way to the connecting flight to Shanghai. Yang's detention was believed to relate to his international connections, according to Feng Chongyi, an academic at the University of Technology in Sydney. Yang was charged with espionage in August 2019. Australian barrister Julian McMahon is said to be assisting with the case. On 29 August 2019, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Nine News, "These suggestions that he's acted as a spy for Australia are absolutely untrue and we'll be protecting and seeking to support our citizen, as we have been doing now for some period of time,"
Political activism
During the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay and ensuing protests, Yang called for Chinese students in Australia to show restraint, and warned that overt Chinese nationalism might create racial tensions between Asians and white Australians.
