Missing Australian in Chinese prison

Photo / Thinkstock

The jailing for life of an Australian citizen convicted of spying in China has finally surfaced after five years of silence.

James Sun, who worked for a company selling Australian education to Chinese students, was arrested and charged with obtaining military secrets from a friend in China's air force.

News of the jailing did not emerge until yesterday, when it was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Foreign Affairs Department has confirmed that consular officials found Hu in a State Security Bureau detention centre six days after he was reported missing in January 2006. They had tried to attend his trial, but permission was refused because the case involved issues of national security.

The Herald said Sun spent two years on death row before his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The newspaper learned of the case from Sun's wife.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Sun was accused of "seducing" a former colleague still in the air force into copying more than 1000 classified documents and of passing them to Taiwan. It said Sun's wife insisted her husband's confession was concocted.

"He's never been to Taiwan and he doesn't know anyone from Taiwan."