The wife of an Australian citizen detained in China has tearfully demanded answers about the fate of her husband who was once a Communist Party insider.
She broke her silence for an ABC investigation into how the Chinese are influencing Australian politics, including billionaire property developer Huang Xiangmo who has sparked a new row between former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his bitter Liberal Party leadership rival Peter Dutton.
Xiaoliang Yuan and her husband Yang Hengjun flew to China in January.
When they arrived with their 14-year-old daughter, officials were waiting at the airport.
Billionaire Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo (pictured with former foreign minister Julie Bishop) had paid former Howard government minister Santo Santoro $10,000 to have his citizenship application presented to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton
Three months after her husband was detained without being charged, Ms Xiaoliang has revealed in her first media interview she had no idea where he was.
‘My family, a family member who I was with everyday and then suddenly disappeared,’ she told the ABC’s Four Corners program with a tear in her eye.
‘I have absolutely no idea whether he is well or even if he is alive or not.
‘It is just no news at all. So I am devastated. I just want him to come home safely.’
Mr Yang has not been charged, but he’s been accused of endangering state security and has been denied access to a lawyer, the ABC reported.
His wife has been banned from leaving China and remains in Shanghai.
Mr Yang was detained after Chinese officials learned he had met with Mr Turnbull’s China adviser John Garnaut, who was preparing a top-secret report on Communist Party interference in Australian affairs.
Xiaoliang Yuan (left) and her husband Yang Hengjun (right) flew to Shanghai in January. Mr Yang was detained after Chinese officials learnt had he spilled secrets on the Communist Party regime
Mr Garnaut declined to reveal the contents of his report to the ABC, but he hinted Chinese officials felt threatened by Mr Yang.
‘This is the most powerful story of all, is the insider who came to know too much, and tells his story outside,’ he said.
The Four Corners program also revealed how former Howard government minister Santo Santoro had lobbied Mr Dutton, the Home Affairs Minister, to fast-track Mr Huang’s bid for citizenship.
Mr Santoro, who like Mr Dutton hailed from the right faction of Queensland’s Liberal National Party, had accepted a $10,000 payment from Mr Huang to take his case to the then immigration minister.
‘There is nobody else anywhere who is better placed than me to help you through this particular part of the project,’ Mr Santoro was recorded as saying.
‘Nobody. I can go to somebody in the minister’s office and say, ‘Can you have a close look at this?’
A day after the ABC investigation was broadcast, Malcolm Turnbull (left with Chinese President Xi Jinping) has demanded an explanation from Mr Dutton, who in August unsuccessfully challenged him for the Liberal Party leadership
‘If I am going to be doing the work and going to Canberra with a copy of the visa application and hand it over to somebody and say, “Can you help”, no, no, I want to get paid and get paid upfront.’
A day after the ABC investigation was broadcast, Mr Turnbull has demanded an explanation from Mr Dutton, who in August unsuccessfully challenged him for the Liberal Party leadership.
‘Peter Dutton has got a lot to explain about this,’ he told reporters in Sydney.
‘He is supposed to be the minister responsible for the domestic security of Australia.
‘He’s supposed to be the minister responsible for ensuring that our politics is not influenced by foreign actors.’
Mr Dutton (pictured) confirmed the 2016 lunch meeting with Mr Huang but has denied providing assistance to the businessman
Mr Dutton confirmed to Australian Associated Press the 2016 lunch meeting with Mr Huang but has denied providing assistance to the businessman, who was last year banned from re-entering Australia after the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation said he posed a threat of foreign interference because of his links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr Turnbull said his successor Scott Morrison could not dismiss the issue as ‘gossip in the Canberra bubble’.
‘I know what it’s like to be prime minister and ultimately, you’re responsible. And so Scott Morrison has to deal with this Peter Dutton issue,’ he said.
The one-on-one meeting followed Mr Dutton’s approval of a request to have a private citizenship ceremony for Mr Huang’s wife and daughter inside former Labor senator Sam Dastyari’s Sydney office in January 2015.
Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari (pictured) held a private citizenship ceremony in his Sydney electorate office for Mr Huang’s wife and daughter
The private event allowed the two to gain their citizenship faster than others who have to wait for a public ceremony.
Mr Dastyari, who was forced to resign from Parliament in 2018 after his dealings with the Mr Huang were revealed, told the ABC he wrote to Mr Dutton asking for the expedited citizenship for Mr Huang’s family.
‘I am not the Minister for Immigration, right? I mean, if Peter Dutton’s explanation for doing things is because Sam Dastyari asked him to do it, that is ludicrous,’ he said.
Mr Dutton in December 2017 had accused Mr Dastyari of being a double agent for China.
‘You can’t pledge allegiance to two countries if you are an Australian senator,’ he told reporters in Melbourne.
‘Your first duty is to the Australian people and Sam Dastyari has failed that duty.’