Australia tells China of 'outrage' over writer's suspended death sentence

Australia has told China of its "outrage" over a suspended death sentence handed to Chinese-Australian dissident writer Yang Jun, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday.

Yang was sentenced to death on Monday with a two-year suspended execution and had all of his property confiscated, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The Beijing court found him guilty of "espionage", a ministry spokesman said.

Jun's sentence may be commuted to life imprisonment if no "serious crimes" are committed during the two-year suspension period, the Australian foreign ministry has said.

Australia's government has conveyed "our dismay, our despair, our frustration, but to put it really simply, our outrage at this verdict," Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

"This is a very harsh sentence on Dr. Yang, who is a man who's not in good health, and we will continue to make the strongest representations," the Australian leader said.

The Chinese-born Australian citizen has been in jail since 2019 on spying allegations.

The writer, whose pen name is Yang Hengjun, has denied the allegations, telling supporters he was tortured at a secret detention site and that he feared forced confessions may be used against him.

Albanese said his government had summoned the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, on Monday and would make representations "at all levels".

"We have said very clearly that we will cooperate with China where we can, but we'll disagree where we must. We must disagree with this harsh action by China. We have done so. We will continue to do so," Albanese said.

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