Ex-US fighter pilot accused of training Chinese military to be extradited to the United States

A former US Marine accused of training Chinese military pilots will be extradited to face charges in the United States, Australia’s Attorney General confirmed Monday, dealing a blow to supporters who have mounted a public campaign for his freedom.

Daniel Duggan, a naturalized Australian, was arrested in the state of New South Wales in 2022 based on a 2017 US grand jury indictment that accuses him of training Chinese military pilots in violation of a US arms embargo.

Duggan denies the charges, claiming that US officials knew about his activities and that he was only training civilian pilots as China’s aviation sector boomed.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus confirmed that Duggan “should be extradited to face prosecution for the offences of which he is accused.”

“Mr Duggan was given the opportunity to provide representations as to why he should not be surrendered to the United States. In arriving at my decision, I took into consideration all material in front of me,” Dreyfus said in a statement Monday.

His decision follows court approval for Duggan’s extradition by a magistrate in May.

In a statement, the pilot’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, said she and their six children were “shocked and absolutely heartbroken by this callous and inhumane decision which has been delivered just before Christmas with no explanation or justification from the Government.”

“We feel abandoned by the Australian Government and deeply disappointed that they have completely failed in their duty to protect an Australian family. We are now considering our options,” she said.

If convicted, Duggan faces a prison sentence of up to 65 years.

Argument against extradition

Duggan has been in custody since his arrest in October 2022, just weeks after returning to his family in Australia from six years working in China. He was detained by Australian police acting on the request of US authorities.

The 2017 indictment filed in the District of Columbia says that “as early as 2008,” Duggan received an email from the US State Department telling him he was required to register with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and apply for permission to train a foreign air force.

Instead, it claims he conspired with others – including the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) – to export defense services in violation of an arms embargo on China.

The statement said Duggan undertook one test-pilot contract for the company in South Africa between November and December 2012, and “never worked for TFASA on any of its training mandates in China.”

Duggan moved to China in 2013 and renounced his US citizenship at the US embassy in Beijing in 2016, though it was backdated on a certificate to 2012 to reflect when he became an Australian citizen, according to his lawyers.

In an 89-page submission filed to Dreyfus’ office in August, Duggan’s lawyers alleged the former US serviceman had become a political pawn during a time of heightened US-China tensions.

It said that his case had been used to send a message to Western pilots that any dealings with China will not be tolerated by the US, or its allies.

“The extradition request is a brutal response to US Sinophobia,” his lawyer Bernard Collaery wrote in a cover letter attached to the submission.

“While scapegoating Daniel Duggan may please some, his extradition into a baying political environment and semi-lawless prison system may also constitute a profound moral and foreign policy failure by Australia,” he wrote.

Duggan’s arrest two years ago came as the US, the United Kingdom and Australia formed a stronger security bond under AUKUS, a deal they signed in 2021 to join forces in the Pacific to counter an increasingly assertive China.

Since then, the UK and Australia have tightened their laws surrounding former military personnel and their post-service activities.