A previous American military pilot detained in Australia collaborated unwittingly with a Chinese hacker, his attorney claims.
Daniel Duggan, aged 55, expressed concern that the demands for confidential data by Western intelligence agencies might put his family's safety at risk, his lawyer mentioned in a legal filing viewed by Reuters.
The lawyer's submission reinforces Reuters' reporting that connects Duggan to Su Bin, a convicted Chinese defense hacker.
Duggan refutes accusations that he violated US arms control laws. He has been detained in an Australian maximum-security prison since his arrest in 2022 following his return from six years in Beijing.
Authorities discovered correspondence involving Duggan on devices seized from Su Bin, his attorney Bernard Collaery stated in a March submission to Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus. Dreyfus will make the final decision on whether to transfer Duggan to the US following a magistrate's hearing in Duggan's extradition trial.
The trial is taking place this month, two years after Duggan's detainment in rural Australia amidst Britain's warning to its ex-military pilots against working for China.
Su Bin was apprehended in Canada in 2014 and confessed in 2016 to stealing US military aircraft designs through hacking major US defense contractors. He is one of the seven co-conspirators listed in the extradition request alongside Duggan.
Duggan viewed Su Bin as a talent scout for Chinese aviation firm AVIC, as per Collaery's March filing. The hacking incident, the lawyer noted, had "nothing to do with our client."
Collaery asserted that, while it's possible Su Bin had illicit connections with Chinese agents, this information was not available to Duggan.
‘Direct approach by intelligence agencies’
AVIC was blacklisted by the US recently as a Chinese military-connected business.
Messaging extracted from Su Bin's electronic devices indicates that he funded Duggan's trip from Australia to Beijing in May 2012, as per US extradition papers submitted to the Australian court.
Duggan asked Su Bin for aid in sourcing Chinese aviation components for his Top Gun tourist flight company in Australia, as per Collaery's submission.
Duggan met with ASIO and US Navy Criminal Investigation Service agents in Australia's Tasmania region in December 2012 and February 2013, his attorney mentioned. ASIO and the US Navy Criminal Investigation Service did not respond to Reuters' inquiries about the meetings. However, ASIO previously stated they would remain silent as the case is being processed in court.
"An ASIO officer proposed that while engaging in his legal business operations in China, Mr. Duggan could gather useful intel," Collaery wrote.
Duggan relocated to China in 2013 and was prohibited from leaving the country in 2014, Collaery said. His LinkedIn profile and industry sources who knew him claimed he functioned as an aviation consultant in China during 2013-2014.
He nullified his US citizenship at the US embassy in Beijing in 2016, retroactively dated to 2012 on the certificate, following "direct contact from US authorities that could have endangered his family's safety," Collaery noted.
Duggan's defense lawyers oppose extradition, arguing there is no proof that the Chinese pilots he trained were of military origin and that he acquired Australian citizenship in January 2012, before the alleged offenses.
The United States government maintains that Duggan did not relinquish his US citizenship until 2016.
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In the global context, the lawyer for Daniel Duggan raised concerns about the potential risks to his family's safety due to data demands by Western intelligence agencies.
During the trial, the attorney general of Australia will consider whether to transfer Duggan to the United States, a decision with implications for relations between Australia and the world.
Source: edition.cnn.com
