Australia – LSJ, July 01, 2025
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), as of 2015 there were 70 Australians either serving sentences or awaiting trial in Chinese jails. An Asia-based NGO has recently released a guide to locating and supporting missing persons in China.
According to The China Story, created by the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) at the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU) there are more Australians missing in China than any other country.
Since 2009, there have been a number of high-profile cases of contentious arrests and imprisonments of Australian citizens in China. Australian journalist Cheng Lei was arrested and detained for three years before her release in 2023. She was charged with illegally supplying state secrets to foreign organisations after months of imprisonment, seemingly the result of her access to an embargoed government report.
Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, travel entrepreneur Matthew Ng, technology educator Charlotte Chou (released in December 2014) and medical inventor Du Zuying (released in July 2014) have been imprisoned on charges of bribery, embezzlement and fraud allegedly targeting their China-based employers or partners. (Du was released in July 2014 and Chou in December 2014).
