A Beijing court on Monday (February 5) handed Australian writer Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence on espionage charges, threatening a recent rebound in bilateral ties that followed several years of strained relations between Beijing and Canberra. - REUTERS
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00:00 A Beijing court on Monday handed Australian writer Yang Han-jung a suspended death sentence
00:07 on espionage charges, the move threatening a recent rebound in bilateral ties following
00:13 several years of strained relations between Beijing and Canberra.
00:18 Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
00:21 The Australian government is appalled at this outcome.
00:25 We will be communicating our response in the strongest terms.
00:30 As a first step, I have directed my secretary to summon China's ambassador to Australia
00:35 to express our objection.
00:37 I want to acknowledge the acute distress that Dr Yang and his family will be feeling today,
00:44 coming after years of uncertainty.
00:46 The sentence comes after Yang's arrest in 2019 at Guangzhou airport.
00:51 An Australian citizen born in China, Yang wrote about Chinese and US politics as a high-profile
00:57 blogger in New York.
00:58 A Chinese state security employee from 1989 to 1999, the country he has been accused of
01:05 spying for has not been made public, neither have the details of the case after a closed-door
01:11 trial in 2021.
01:13 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Guangbing told a news conference on Monday
01:19 all his personal properties were to be confiscated.
01:23 The People's Court handled the case in strict accordance with the law and ensured his procedural
01:27 rights and also respected and ensured the consular rights of the Australian side and
01:31 allowed the Australian side to sit in on the sentencing.
01:35 Yang has denied working as a spy for Australia and the United States and denied any wrongdoing
01:41 in letters to family from jail.
01:43 A family spokesperson in Sydney said they were "shocked and devastated" by this news,
01:49 which comes at the extreme end of worst expectations.
01:53 Supporters have urged the Australian government to seek medical parole for Yang, saying five
01:57 years of detention had taken a heavy toll on his health and that he may need surgery.
02:02 The first visit to China in seven years by an Australian prime minister in 2023 showed
02:08 signs of a thawing of strained relations between the two major trading partners.
02:13 Even as issues from the origins of the global health crisis to tensions in the South China
02:18 Sea continue to cast a pal over ties.
02:22 The suspended death sentence in Chinese law gives the accused a two-year reprieve from
02:27 being executed.
02:28 After that, it is automatically converted to life imprisonment or more rarely fixed-term
02:33 imprisonment.
02:34 The individual remains in prison throughout.
02:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]