Daniel Duggan, a former US Marine and naturalized Australian citizen, will be extradited to the United States to face charges of illegally training Chinese military pilots, CNN reports, citing Australia’s Attorney General.
The decision follows months of legal proceedings and a public campaign by Duggan’s supporters, who argue he is a political pawn amid rising US-China tensions.
Duggan was arrested in New South Wales in 2022 based on a 2017 US indictment. The indictment alleges that he violated a US arms embargo by training Chinese military pilots, an accusation he vehemently denies. Duggan maintains he was only training civilian pilots as China’s aviation sector expanded, adding that US officials were aware of his activities.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus stated that Duggan “should be extradited to face prosecution for the offences of which he is accused,” following a May court decision approving his extradition. If convicted in the US, Duggan could face up to 65 years in prison.
Duggan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, expressed shock and heartbreak at the decision, stating in a statement released just before Christmas that the ruling was “callous and inhumane” and made “with no explanation or justification from the Government.”
Duggan, a former pilot who ran joy flights in Tasmania after leaving the military, has been in custody since his arrest in October 2022. He had recently returned to Australia from a six-year stint in China. Australian police apprehended him based on a request from US authorities.
According to the 2017 indictment filed in the District of Columbia, Duggan was notified by the US State Department “as early as 2008” that he needed to register with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and seek permission to train a foreign air force. Instead, US prosecutors claim he conspired with others, including the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), to illegally export defense services to China.
Duggan’s lawyers maintain that he worked on only one test-pilot contract for TFASA in South Africa between November and December 2012, and “never worked for TFASA on any of its training mandates in China.” They point out that Duggan moved to China in 2013, renouncing his US citizenship at the US embassy in Beijing in 2016. However, his certificate was backdated to 2012 to match the year he obtained Australian citizenship.
In an 89-page submission to Dreyfus’ office in August, his lawyers argued that the case had become politicized due to increased tensions between the US and China, and that Duggan is being used to send a message to Western pilots that any engagement with China is unacceptable.
The timing of Duggan’s arrest, two years ago, coincided with the strengthening of the AUKUS security pact between the US, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This agreement, signed in 2021, aims to counter China’s growing influence in the Pacific. In the aftermath of the pact, the UK and Australia have tightened their laws regarding the activities of former military personnel after leaving service.
