US accuses former military pilot of illegally training Chinese army

Daniel Duggan’s lawyer says the pilot is being ‘singled out’ because of current geopolitical climate

Dennis Miralis, defence lawyer for former US fighter pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan, talks to media outside the Local Court in Sydney on 4 November 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

The US is trying to extradite a former military pilot held in Australia on charges of providing illegal training to the Chinese military.

Daniel Duggan, 54, has been in jail in Australia since October last year.

Slamming the extradition bid by American authorities as “political”, his lawyer Dennis Miralis said Mr Duggan was being “singled out” due to the current geopolitical struggle between the US and China.

Denying the allegations on behalf of his client, Mr Miralis told the media outside a Sydney courtroom that they will fight the extradition bid at every step.

“He’s clearly in our view been singled out in circumstances when the Department of Defence has admitted that it has known of many Australian citizens who have performed foreign services in other jurisdictions with foreign states of a military nature,” his attorney was quoted as saying by 9News.

He also criticised Australia’s attorney general Mark Dreyfus for approving the US extradition request in December last year.

“We are concerned that this does highlight the political nature of what’s occurring here,” said Mr Miralis.

Elaborating on the conditions in which his client remains in Silverwater jail, his attorney said Mr Duggan was designated a high-risk prisoner and placed with convicts.

“Mr Duggan remains under extraordinary stress as a result of the current restrictions imposed on him in custody,” he said. “Being placed in that type of environment naturally and logically creates an immediate risk to all persons in custody and of course this is something that weighs on him.”

According to 2016 indictment from the US District Court that was recently unsealed, prosecutors argued that the former Marine Corps officer conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012 without applying for an appropriate license.

They also alleged Mr Duggan received $61,000 in eight installments for what was sometimes described as “Personal Development Training”.

Mr Duggan’s attorney, however, said his client “contests and denies” the allegations, adding that “it should be remembered that Mr Duggan is presumed to be innocent under US law. He’s presumed to be innocent under Australian law”.

He served in the Marine Corps for 13 years until 2002 and became an AV-8B Harrier fighter pilot and an instructor pilot during his service.

From 2005-14, he lived in Australia, finding and becoming the chief pilot of Top Gun Tasmania, a business based in Tasmania state that offered joy flights in British military jet trainer BAC Jet Provost and Chinese military propeller-driven trainer CJ-6A Nanchang.

He moved to Beijing in 2014 and, three years later, became general manager for Shandong-based AVIBIZ Limited, which is “a comprehensive consultancy company with a focus on the fast-growing and dynamic Chinese Aviation Industry”.

It is, however, unclear whether he continued to stay in China. The circumstances under which he was held in Australia are not clear as well.