Ex-US pilot that trained China is delivered to the USA

Ex-US pilot that trained China is delivered to the USA

Brisbane, Australia-a former US Navy who is accused of having trained Chinese military pilots, is being taken to the USA in order to have to answer for himself. This was confirmed by the Australian Attorney General on Monday and represents a setback for supporters who have worked publicly for his release.

arrest and allegations

Daniel Duggan, a naturalized Australian, was arrested in the state of New South Wales in 2022. This was due to an indictment by a US major jury from 2017, which accuses him of having trained Chinese military pilots in violation of a US weapon embargo. Duggan rejects the allegations and explains that US authorities were informed about his activities and that he only trained civilian pilots to meet the booming air ride.

The government's decision

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus confirmed that Duggan should be “delivered to face the accusations”. Dreyfus said: "Mr. Duggan had the opportunity to put up arguments why he should not be delivered to the United States. In my decision, I took all the information available." This decision followed the approval of the delivery by a judge in May.

reactions of the family

In an explanation, the pilot's wife, Saffrine Duggan, expressed that she and her six children are "shocked and absolutely destroyed by this insensitive and inhumane decision, which was made shortly before Christmas without explanation or justification by the government". She added: "We feel abandoned by the Australian government and are deeply disappointed that it has completely failed to protect an Australian family. We are now considering which options are available to us."

consequences of a conviction

If Duggan is convicted, he threatens a prison sentence of up to 65 years.

arguments against delivery

Duggan has been in custody since his arrest in October 2022, just a few weeks after he had returned to his family in Australia after working in China for six years. He was arrested by the Australian police at the request of the US authorities. The indictment from 2017, which was submitted in the Washington district, states that Duggan had already received an email from the US State Department in 2008, in which he was informed that he had to register with the management for arms controls and apply for approval for the training of a foreign air weapon.

collaboration with South Africa

political implications

Duggan moved to China in 2013 and gave up his US citizenship at the US embassy in Beijing in 2016, whereby this was noted for a certificate from 2012 to reflect on the time when he became a Australian citizen, according to his lawyers.

In an 89-page input that was submitted to Dreyfus in August, Duggan's lawyers claimed that the former US soldier had become a political chess figure in a time tens of tensions between the United States and China. They argue that his case was used to signal western pilots that all business with China is not tolerated by the USA or its allies.

"The delivery request is a brutal reaction to the Sinophobia of the United States," wrote his lawyer Bernard Collaery in an accompanying letter. "While some likes to abuse Daniel Duggan as a scapegoat, his delivery to an environment characterized by politics and a semi-legal prison system could also represent a profound moral and foreign policy failure of Australia," he added.

duggan's arrest two years ago fell together with the formation of a stronger security alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia under Aukus - an agreement that was signed in 2021 in order to act together in the Pacific together against an increasingly assertive China. Since then, the United Kingdom and Australia have tightened their laws regarding former military members and their activities after the service.