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Beijing: University of Technology Sydney academic Chongyi Feng said late on Saturday he had boarded a flight leaving China, ending an ordeal that saw him interrogated by authorities and delayed from exiting the country.
Professor Feng, an Australian permanent resident who retains his Chinese passport, boarded the flight from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and was scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Sunday morning. Flight tracking websites confirmed the plane had taken off.
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His lawyer, Chen Jinxue, said state security officers who had been questioning Professor Feng daily told the academic on Saturday morning that he was free to leave.
As a condition for his departure, Professor Feng was made to sign a statement agreeing not to divulge details of his questioning or where it had taken place.
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China's foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment late on Saturday.
In a short video message to supporters recorded shortly before he left China, Professor Feng described his ordeal as "one of life's little accidents".
UTS academic Professor Feng Chongyi at the Guangzhou Airport on Saturday afternoon with his lawyers Chen Jingxue (left) and Liu Hao (right) after being questioned by police.
"Now it is over," said the long-serving associate professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
"I now have the chance to step out of the country, but I will return."
Feng Chongyi, an associate professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Technology Sydney. Photo: Supplied
Since arriving in China a month ago for research, Professor Feng had met with fellow academics, intellectuals and human rights lawyers in several cities.
He was first held for questioning in Kunming, the capital of the south-western Yunnan province, before being barred twice from boarding flights to Sydney from Guangzhou last Friday and Saturday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday that Professor Feng was being prevented from leaving on "national security" grounds, without elaborating.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
It said earlier this week the Australian government was "monitoring developments closely and has raised this case with senior Chinese officials".