Australia hunt for blogger in China

2011-03-29 13:52

Sydney - Australia said on Tuesday it was urgently trying to find a Chinese-born Australian blogger who reportedly disappeared in China over the weekend.

Australia's foreign ministry said it was concerned by reports that Yang Hengjun, an Australian citizen, disappeared in the southern city of Guangzhou on Sunday.

"The Australian Consul General in Guangzhou is urgently seeking to confirm the man's whereabouts and wellbeing and provide him with consular assistance if needed," it said in a statement.

Reports said that Yang, a former Chinese diplomat turned spy novelist, had not been heard from since phoning a colleague from Guangzhou airport, saying that he was being followed by three men.

"Yang Hengjun is the most influential political blogger in China, with millions of readers," University of Technology Sydney academic Feng Chongyi told the Sydney Morning Herald.

But Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu toll a Beijing press briefing she had never heard of Yang Hengjun.

Consular officers in Canberra have contacted Yang's family in Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits China, a major trading partner, next month.

- AFP