SYDNEY: Australia on Thursday demanded China handle the case of detained author Yang Hengjun “transparently and fairly,” amid a growing row about the fate of the Chinese-Australian.

Yang — a novelist, democracy advocate and former Chinese diplomat — was detained shortly after he made a rare return to China from the United States last week.

Chinese authorities have not publicly said why he was detained, or whether he is facing charges.

“Our embassy in Beijing will meet with Chinese authorities this morning to seek further clarification of the nature of this detention,” Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement.

“We will continue to make representations to China to ensure that this matter is dealt with transparently and fairly,” she added.

Once described as China’s “most influential political blogger”, Yang became an Australian citizen in 2000, but is currently based at New York’s Columbia University.

His criticism of the Chinese government and support for democracy has in the past made him a target of Beijing’s state security apparatus.

He went missing during a 2011 trip to China, but resurfaced days later, describing his disappearance as a “misunderstanding”.

But his current detention comes at a moment of high tension between Western countries and an increasingly muscular Beijing, prompting fears that he may be the victim of a dragnet by Chinese security services targeting foreigners.

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