Australia on Monday criticized the treatment of a Chinese-born Australian writer detained by Beijing for almost a year and sought details of his case, prompting China to say it was being dealt with according to law, amid the neighbors' prickly ties.
Yang Hengjun, a former Chinese diplomat turned online journalist and blogger, was formally arrested in August on suspicion of espionage, seven months after he was originally detained in the southern city of Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
Espionage is punishable by death in China.
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