The Age reports that an Australian man, considered to be one of the most influential political bloggers in China, has gone missing.
Dr. Yang Hengjun was reportedly last seen on the 20th March at Guangzhou airport - and his supporters believe he may be in the hands of Chinese police.
According to The Age, Mr Yang is understood to carry an Australian passport.
'Yang Hengjun is the most influential political blogger in China, with millions of readers', Feng Chongyi, who supervised Dr Yang's PhD thesis at the University of Technology, Sydney, told The Age.
Friends and colleagues said they believed Dr Yang was the latest and most prominent victim of Beijing's pre-emptive and iron-fisted response to the ''jasmine revolutions'' that have swept the Middle East, The Age reports.
The incident could potentially heighten sensitivities between Australia and China - as Julia Gillard prepares for her first visit there as Prime Minister in April.