China prevents academic from returning home to Australia
BEIJING — An academic at an Australian university has been prevented by Chinese authorities from returning to Sydney because he’s suspected of endangering national security, his lawyer said.
Border officials at an airport in the southern city of Guangzhou refused to let Feng Chongyi, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, catch his flight home on Friday and Saturday, according to Feng’s lawyer, Chen Jinxue.
“He has no way of leaving China right now,” Chen said Sunday.
Officials have not said why they suspect Feng of “endangering national security,” Chen said, but it could be related to his research on human rights lawyers. Feng had been wrapping up a three-week trip researching that topic.