纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国以间谍罪判处澳籍作家杨恒均死缓

An Australian writer and businessman who has been detained in China since 2019 has been declared guilty of espionage and was given a death sentence with two years’ probation on Monday, in a blow to warming relations between Australia and China.

周一，一位自2019年以来一直被关押在中国的澳大利亚作家兼商人被判犯有间谍罪，并被判处死刑，缓期两年执行，这对正在回暖的澳中关系是一个打击。

The severe punishment for the businessman, Yang Hengjun, was first revealed by the Australian government, and then confirmed by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a daily briefing in Beijing. If Mr. Yang does not commit any crimes in those probationary two years, the sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment, Penny Wong, the Australian foreign minister, said in a statement. She described the verdict as “harrowing.”

对商人杨恒均的严厉处罚最初由澳大利亚政府透露，后在北京的中国外交部例行记者会上得到了证实。澳大利亚外交部长黄英贤(Penny Wong)在一份声明中透露，如果杨恒均在缓刑两年期间没有犯罪，死刑可减为无期徒刑。她把这项判决描述为“令人痛心”。

The long detention of Mr. Yang — who is also known by his legal name, Yang Jun — has been one of the sources of tensions between Australia and China. Now the severe sentence may again weigh on relations, which had been improving after the election of a new, center-left Labor government in Australia in 2022. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, visited Beijing late last year and has pressed for Mr. Yang’s release.

杨恒均法律上的正式姓名是杨军，中国对他的长期拘禁一直是澳中关系紧张的原因之一。现在，这个重判也许会再次影响两国关系。自从澳大利亚的中左翼政党工党在2022年胜选后组建新政府以来，澳大利亚一直在和中国改善关系。澳大利亚总理安瑟尼·阿尔巴尼斯去年年底访问了北京，并敦促释放杨恒均。

“The Australian government will be communicating our response in the strongest terms,” Ms. Wong said, adding: “We have consistently called for basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment for Dr. Yang, in accordance with international norms and China’s legal obligations.” She said she had directed officials to call in Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Australia.

“澳大利亚政府将以最强烈的语言传达我们的回应，”黄英贤说，并补充说：“我们始终如一地呼吁按照国际准则和中国的法律义务，给予杨博士基本的司法标准、程序公平和人道待遇。”她说，她已指示官员召见中国驻澳大利亚大使肖千。

Mr. Yang, 58, was born in China and became an Australian citizen in 2000, completing a dissertation there that focused on the internet and democratization in China. Mr. Yang described himself as a former employee of the Chinese foreign ministry, and also wrote a trilogy of novels about China’s espionage apparatus. He had been critical of human rights abuses under the Chinese government, but became more cautious in his public comments in the years before his detention, when dissent in China came under tighter control.

现年58岁的杨恒均在中国出生，于2000年入籍澳大利亚，并在当地完成了一篇关于中国互联网和民主化的博士论文。据杨恒均的自我描述，他曾在中国外交部工作，写过一部中国间谍机构题材的三部曲小说。他曾批评中国政府侵犯人权的行为，但在被拘留前的几年里，随着中国更严格地控制异见，他的公开言论已变得更加谨慎。

He vanished in early 2019, shortly after arriving in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou from New York, where he had been a visiting scholar at Columbia University. He was detained for more than two years before he underwent a closed-door trial in May 2021, according to Ms. Wong’s statement. The final verdict and sentence had been subject to repeated delays.

2019年初，他从纽约抵达中国南方城市广州不久后就失踪了，当时他是纽约哥伦比亚大学的访问学者。据黄英贤的声明，他被拘留了两年多后，于2021年5月接受了非公开审判。最终的判决和量刑一再推迟。

The charges of espionage that Mr. Yang faced were “fabricated,” his friend Feng Chongyi, a professor at University of Technology Sydney who was himself detained by the Chinese authorities in 2017, said in an email.

杨恒均面临的间谍指控“纯属捏造”，他的朋友、悉尼科技大学教授冯崇义在电子邮件中写道。冯崇义本人曾在2017年被中国当局拘留。

“This is a serious case of injustice, but Dr. Yang won’t be able to appeal due to poor health,” he said. “Five years of arbitrary detention and torture have taken a heavy toll on his health. He is now critically ill. The top priority for Dr. Yang is to receive proper medical treatment on medical parole immediately.”

“这是一起严重不公的案件，但杨博士由于健康状况不佳无法上诉，”冯崇义说。“五年的武断拘留和酷刑对他的健康造成了严重损害。他现在处于病危状态。当务之急是立即让杨博士保外就医。”

Mr. Yang told supporters last year that a large cyst had developed in his kidney that he feared would kill him in prison without adequate treatment.

杨恒均去年曾告诉支持者，他的肾脏出现了一个大囊肿，他担心如果得不到合格的治疗，他可能会死在监狱里。

“The entire prosecution, which lasted for five years, was shrouded in secrecy and ridden with allegations of torture and ill treatment,” Yaqiu Wang, the research director for China for Freedom House, an advocacy group critical of the Chinese government’s record on human rights, said in a written response to questions. “Beijing’s complete disregard for international human rights laws and norms is now extended to citizens of other countries.”

“整个起诉过程长达五年，一直处于保密状态，充满了酷刑和虐待的指控，”批评中国政府人权记录的倡导组织“自由之家”的中国议题研究主任王亚秋在书面回答记者提问时写道。“北京完全无视国际人权法律和规范的行为现在也延伸到了其他国家公民的身上。”

In a September 2020 message that was passed to his family and supporters from a detention center in Beijing, Mr. Yang proclaimed his innocence and swore to fight to the end. “I will never confess to something I haven’t done,” he said.

2020年9月，杨恒均从北京一处看守所向家人和支持者传递了口信，他宣称自己无罪，并发誓要抗争到底。“我永远不会承认做过那些我没做过的事情，”他说。

The verdict comes as once-icy relations between Australia and China showed signs of thawing: The two nations have for months made moves toward rapprochement, starting with the change in the Australian government. That was followed by meetings between the two countries’ foreign ministers, the release in October of a detained Australian journalist and, in November, the first visit by an Australian premier to Beijing since 2016.

对杨恒均的判决做出之际，澳大利亚与中国一度冰冷的关系出现了解冻迹象：在澳大利亚的新政府上任后的几个月里，两国关系已开始走向缓和。后来，两国的外交部长举行了会晤，去年10月，一名被中国拘留的澳大利亚记者获释，澳大利亚总理去年11月访问了北京，那是2016年以来澳大利亚总理首次访问中国。

Richard McGregor, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, who was formerly a journalist based in Beijing, said the harsh punishment of Mr. Yang appeared to show the influence of China’s Ministry of State Security, its main intelligence agency. The security ministry would have scant concern about the impact of the sentence on diplomacy between Beijing and Canberra, Mr. McGregor noted.

悉尼洛伊研究所的高级研究员马利德(Richard McGregor)曾是驻北京的记者，他说，对杨恒均的重判看来显示了中国主要情报机构国家安全部的影响力。马利德指出，国安部不大关心这项判决对中澳外交的影响。

“The Ministry of State Security was once secretive and low-profile,” he said in an email. “In recent times, they have started to express very public and hard-line views on foreign policy issues, and this verdict is in line with that trend.”

“国家安全部曾经既神秘又低调，”他在电子邮件中写道。“最近一段时间，他们开始在外交政策问题上表达非常公开和强硬的观点，这项判决符合这一趋势。”