Lawyer says China has charged Chinese-Australian writer

A lawyer says a Chinese-Australian writer detained in Beijing since January has been charged and moved to a different detention center.

Australian lawyer Rob Stary says he had been told by Yang Hengjun’s family and friends of the charge on Thursday and is seeking confirmation from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Stary says he does not know what the 53-year-old visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York has been charged with.

Chinese authorities had until July 27 to decide whether they would charge the novelist and former Chinese diplomat.

He has been detained since January when he arrived in China with his wife and stepdaughter.

China in January said Yang had been detained for allegedly “endangering China’s national security.”