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. Daniel Duggan, a naturalized Australian, was arrested in 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.”
His decision follows court approval for Duggan’s extradition by a magistrate in May. In a statement, the pilot’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, expressed shock and heartbreak over the decision, feeling abandoned by the Australian Government.
If convicted, Duggan faces a prison sentence of up to 65 years. The 2017 indictment alleges that Duggan conspired to export defense services in violation of an arms embargo on China.
In a statement to CNN in 2023, the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) clarified that Duggan undertook one test-pilot contract for the company in South Africa but never worked for TFASA on any training mandates in China.
Duggan moved to China in 2013 and renounced his US citizenship in 2016. His lawyers argued that he had become a political pawn amid heightened US-China tensions.
Duggan’s arrest coincided with the formation of AUKUS, a security pact between the US, UK, and Australia to counter China’s assertiveness in the Pacific. Since then, the UK and Australia have tightened laws regarding former military personnel and their post-service activities.
