In Australien herrscht helle Aufregung. Was hat der eingebürgerte Autor in den Augen von Chinas Herrschern getan, um die Kapitalstrafe zu ve
Yang Hengjun turned his back on the Communist Party and became an Australian - now China has sentenced him to death
There is great excitement in Australia. What did the naturalised author do to deserve the capital punishment in the eyes of China's rulers?
Patrick Zoll, Taipei 05.02.2024, NZZ
Australian Yang Hengjun, who was sentenced to death in China, in an undated photo with his wife Yuan Xiaoliang.
Australian Yang Hengjun, who was sentenced to death in China, in an undated photo with his wife Yuan Xiaoliang.
After five years in isolation in pre-trial detention, Australian author Yang Hengjun has been sentenced to death in China. The sentence will be commuted to "life imprisonment" if Yang does not commit any offences for a further two years. As Yang's health has recently deteriorated massively in prison, according to Australian reports, he will probably die in prison.
The Chinese judiciary has never announced in detail what it is accusing Yang of, nor has it provided any evidence. On Monday, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing said, according to the Reuters news agency, that Yang had been convicted of espionage. All necessary procedures had been followed and "the Australian side" had attended the sentencing. What exactly this means remains unclear - Australian diplomats have repeatedly complained that they have hardly any access to Yang.
From Chinese functionary to democracy blogger
Yang emigrated to Australia in 1999. He had previously worked for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Security. He studied in Sydney, wrote a doctoral thesis on the influence of bloggers on a possible democratisation of China and became a blogger himself. "Yang gave up his career as a communist cadre member to work for freedom and democracy," the Australian newspaper "Sydney Morning Herald" quoted Feng Chongyi, Yang's doctoral supervisor, as saying. Yang obtained Australian citizenship in 2002.
In 2019, Yang was arrested at Guangzhou airport when he travelled from the USA with his wife. At the time, he also held an academic position at Columbia University and was involved in the import-export business between China and the USA.
In captivity, Yang is said to have been repeatedly tortured and held incommunicado. He was tried behind closed doors in 2021.
There is a lot of excitement in Australia following the harsh judgement for Yang. Foreign Minister Penny Wong wrote that her government was outraged. All Australians wanted Yang to be reunited with his family. They will continue to stand up for him. However, Wong is probably aware that she has little room for manoeuvre.
The judgement comes at a delicate time in Australian-Chinese relations. These have only slowly begun to ease in recent months after years of ice age. The close trading partners found themselves in a serious diplomatic crisis. Australia accused China of interfering in and influencing Australian politics. During the coronavirus pandemic, Australia then demanded an investigation into the cause of the outbreak, which angered China's rulers so much that they imposed several punitive measures against Australian products.
The communist regime severely punishes "treason"
In November, Anthony Albanese became the first Australian Prime Minister in seven years to visit Beijing. Shortly before this, the Chinese government released the Australian journalist Cheng Lei. Like Yang, she was born Chinese and later obtained Australian citizenship. Cheng worked for the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN and was arrested, allegedly because she had ignored an embargo period. She was held for more than two years, but was never convicted.
Hopes at the time that Yang would soon be released did not materialise. On the contrary: the conditional death sentence exceeded the fears of most of his supporters. The 57-year-old's real "crime" was probably that he had turned his back on China and the Communist Party as a former member of the party cadre. In the eyes of those in power, this is treason and should be severely punished.
In Australia, Yang's harsh punishment is also seen in a political light. The director of the think tank Australia Strategic Policy Institute, Justin Bassi, described the judgement to the Sydney Morning Herald as hostage diplomacy. Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham told the public broadcaster ABC that the death sentence was a warning of the differences between Australia's and China's legal systems and the risks involved in doing business and maintaining contacts with China.
The West should finally understand that XI will not tolerate any resistance or criticism from the Chinese Communist Party, and if they do not retaliate today, they will retaliate at some point, without mercy or humanity.
The West must take advantage of China's weaknesses and exploit its dependence on China and the ultimate prosperity of the Chinese people.
In order to live in peace with China, the following must be realised.
China's business enterprises (mostly dependent on the CKP) cannot acquire shares in systemically relevant companies and infrastructure in Europe, nor in agricultural enterprises. Without exception, not even in the form of straw companies.
China's weakness is its size and the fact that ultimately China's land cannot feed the Chinese people sufficiently, which in turn means that the CP, which always emphasises that it and the people are one, must provide the people with food and quality of life. For better or worse! China has a large area, but this area is not exactly fertile.
Europe has the ability to supply China with the food China needs, but it should always understand that this is exactly the trump card to stop China.
Europe must also secure its supply routes and not be intimidated by China's behaviour in terms of exerting influence. Europe is China's sales market and if we get the sniffles, China is sick!
Mark Aurel more or less
According to the motto divide and conquer, keep a watchful eye on China because everything China does is part of a plan. They punish to negotiate, they smile to negotiate but always in the interest of the CKP and thus XI's plans.
No blogger is safe from dictatorships! Only democracy and freedom guarantee freedom of expression and thus participation in an open society. Someone should be persecuted because of their thoughts, opinions, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
A nation in which everyone is equal agrees on common rules of coexistence for the benefit of all.
Freedom is non-negotiable, human rights are non-negotiable.
Justice is when everyone is treated equally, publicly and transparently.
Everything else is injustice, there is no right in wrong!
