As they went about stabilising relations with China, government officials privately cautioned that Yang’s case was different to Cheng’s in important respects and that they were unlikely to be released in a package deal. Yang’s history as an exiled former Ministry of State Security officer and political activist made his case more sensitive in Beijing and a tougher challenge for Australian diplomats.

So it has proven, with Cheng now living freely in Melbourne and presenting bulletins on Sky News while Yang faces the prospect of execution by lethal injection if he angers Beijing again, while his supporters fear his health is so poor he will die in prison waiting for justice.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Malcolm Davis said the Yang sentencing “treats the current government’s attempts at ‘stabilisation’ of the relationship with utter contempt”.

“The ‘two year’ good behaviour reprieve is designed to give Beijing more leverage to coerce concessions from Canberra,” he added.

The government must now decide how strongly to press Yang’s case while bracing for possible blowback from Beijing, which bristles at criticism of its legal system. Wine growers and lobster farmers will fear they will once again be the victims of a diplomatic dispute.

Wong said that, despite the Yang verdict, the government will continue to engage with China, indicating a leaders’ meeting in Australia could still go ahead later this year (a lower-profile, workmanlike visit by Chinese Premier Li Qiang is seen as more likely and desireable than one by Xi).

But that will be a matter for another day, when tempers between Australia and its biggest trading partner have cooled. Monday was a day for disagreement, not for co-operation.

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