Promising signs China will free writer

HOPES remain that 0Australian writer Yang Hengjun could be released and a diplomatic crisis averted, after he told a close confidant yesterday they would meet face-to-face ''within days''.

The internet commentator and spy novelist's mystery disappearance from Guangzhou airport comes just weeks before what are likely to be the two highest level visits between the countries this year. Both sides had hoped the visits would begin the process of rebuilding a strained relationship. China's No. 4 ranked leader, Jia Qinglin, is due to arrive in Australia for a long visit next Tuesday, officials from both countries revealed yesterday, while Julia Gillard is scheduled to make her first trip to Beijing as Prime Minister in the last week of April.

Dr Yang's phone was switched on yesterday, although it mostly rang unanswered, and he told several friends and relatives he was in hospital but otherwise was fine. Sources close to Dr Yang expressed hope he would not be pushed through China's capricious legal system, noting that his messages were carefully worded and possibly designed as an attempt by security officials to execute a face-saving backdown.

The disappearance of Dr Yang, the popular Chinese political commentator, has attracted widespread attention in China and abroad since it was first reported in the Herald on Tuesday.

Relations between Australia and China are already strained by the repeated detention of high-profile Chinese Australians without transparent legal processes.

Yesterday the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed Dr Yang had been in contact with his family and it also reminded Beijing the consular agreement between both countries requires notification of any detention within three days.

That period is presumed to have begun shortly after he phoned a friend to say he was being followed on Sunday afternoon, and would have ended late yesterday.

The detention of prominent Chinese Australians is becoming a diplomatic and corporate headache.

Dr Yang has not been accused of any offence but other Chinese Australian passport holders who have been abducted in similar circumstances have faced accusations of endangering state security.

In recent times the Herald has revealed the detention of the successful entrepreneur Matthew Ng, who was picked up in November and later charged with embezzlement. The Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu was convicted in March last year for bribery and receiving commercial secrets. James Sun was detained five years ago and convicted of spying for Taiwan in secret proceedings that only surfaced this year.