China Formally Arrests Japanese Executive for Alleged Espionage

The Japanese flag flutters over the Bank of Japan (BoJ) head office building in Tokyo on April 27, 2022. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese regime has formally arrested a Japanese national who has been detained since March on allegations of spying, as tensions between the two nations have worsened.

A Japanese official confirmed the arrest during a news conference in Tokyo on Oct. 19 and called on the Chinese communist regime to free Japanese citizens in order to avoid further damage to their relations.

“We have also strongly urged China for an immediate release at various levels, and we will continue to do so,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

Mr. Matsuno said that the man, in his mid-50s, was formally arrested in mid-October.

The detained man is an executive at Japanese drugmaker Astellas and has been detained in Beijing since March on suspicion of “engaging in espionage activities and violating anti-espionage law,” according to Japanese media Kyodo News.

Kyodo News reported that the man has worked in China for 20 years and previously had served as a senior official of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China.

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The Japanese Embassy has met with the man six times to check on his health, according to Nikkie Asia. An Astellas spokesman said that the company is still gathering information via Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

The Chinese regime hasn’t revealed the detailed charges against the detained Japanese citizen. In April, when then-Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi visited China, he formally protested the incident and called for the swift release of the man during a meeting with then-Chinese counterpart Qin Gang.

China’s New Counter-Espionage Law, Exit Bans

Foreign employees in China have been at risk since Beijing introduced its renewed Counter-Espionage Law in July, tightening state control over information transfer related to national security and expanding the national security definition. Previously, the legal definition of espionage focused on the disclosure of so-called state secrets and intelligence. The new version expanded the definition to include documents, data, information, and items related to national security, as well as instigating, inducing, coercing, or bribing state employees.

On June 30, a day before the new anti-spying law officially took effect, the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory urging U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel to mainland China due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions.”

The State Department warned that Beijing has interrogated and detained foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens living and working in China, for alleged violations of its national security law.

A broader definition of national security allows Beijing “to detain and prosecute foreign nationals for alleged espionage.” China uses exit bans to force foreigners to participate in government probes, to pressure the family members of dissidents overseas, and to gain leverage over foreign governments, the State Department warned in the travel advisory.

China’s exit bans have further worried foreign businesses, which has worsened since earlier this year as the Chinese regime has not only detained the Japanese Astellas Pharma executive but has also targeted U.S. firms. It has raided due-diligence company Mintz and consulting firm Capvision, questioned Bain & Co.’s staff, and investigated chipmaker Micron.

In September, the American Chamber of Commerce’s poll found that U.S. business confidence in China had reached a record low. A survey in August showed that more than half of the Japanese companies in China had expressed concern over their future operations in the country over the new anti-espionage law.

Jon Sun and Reuters contributed to this report.