Summary

  • Magistrate approves Duggan’s extradition to the US.
  • Duggan faces charges for training Chinese pilots.
  • China rapidly expanding its impressive carrier program.

Reuters reported that former US Marines Corps pilot Daniel Duggan (aged 55) is facing extradition from Australia to the United States for allegedly breaking US arms control laws after he trained Chinese pilots. Duggan is now a naturalized Australian citizen, and he denies the allegations. Tensions between China and American-led allies have been growing in the Pacific. Recently, Australia accused China of “unprofessional and unacceptable” behavior after a Chinese jet dropped flares near an Australian helicopter.

A Sydney magistrate, Daniel Reiss, ruled on Friday that Duggan can be extradited to the United States, saying, “Mr Duggan is eligible for surrender.” Duggan now has 15 days to apply for a review of the ruling and the ultimate decision will be made by the Attorney General of Australia. Duggan’s wife, Saffrine, has stated the family will appeal the case to the Attorney General.

Two J-20 fighter jets flying in the sky.

If he is extradited, he will face charges of training Chinese pilots to land on aircraft carriers. According to Reuters, the charges include money laundering and breaking arms control laws by training the pilots.

Dugan’s backstory

Duggan became an Australian citizen in 2012; his wife and children are Australian. Duggan lived in China between 2014 and 2022. He renounced his American citizenship in 2016 at the US embassy in Beijing. The US contends that he trained Chinese pilots before that date while he was still an American citizen.

Duggan was arrested by the Australian federal police in New South Wales in October 2022, shortly after returning from China. He has been held in a maximum security prison since then (so he is unable to make an escape to an embassy like Julian Assange (and another Australian national facing extradition to the US) did in Britain.

Chinese Aircraft Carrier in port

Duggan is part of a larger US indictment which includes seven co-conspirators (including convicted Chinese hacker Su Bin). Su Bin pled guilty in 2016 for these of US military aircraft designs. For its part, Great Britain has warned former defense staff not to train Chinese People’s Liberation Army pilots at a South African flying academy (where Duggan is known to have worked).

Related

Analysis: Is China On The Path To Have The Largest Air Force?

China continues to grow and modernize its Air Force while the USAF is shrinking, acquiring fewer though more capable aircraft.

China’s impressive carrier program

As the world once again enters an age of great power competition, China is building its navy at breakneck speed. According to CNN, China has gone from having a small, mostly coastal navy largely incapable of Blue Water operations to having more commissioned ships than the US Navy (note that the number of ships and the capabilities of a navy are two very different things).

The Liaoning during the April 12, 2018 Fleet Review

Since 1985, China has acquired four (mostly retired) aircraft carriers, including the British-built ex-Australian HMAS Melbourne and the ex-Soviet carriers Minsk, Kiev, and Varyag. The Varyag was left semi-complete after the fall of the USSR, and the Chinese acquired it from Ukraine, eventually completing it and commissioning it as the Liaoning.

Since then, China has built two aircraft carriers from scratch – the Shandong (commissioned in 2019) and the Fujian (began sea trials in 2024). The Fujian is China’s first all-new ingenious design and a true supercarrier. Within around 12 years, China has gone from having no operational aircraft carriers to three.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *