Japan Needs Legislation to Prevent CCP Spies From Accessing Trade Secrets: Former Intelligence Officer

Prince, a member of the hacking group Red Hacker Alliance who refused to give his real name, uses a website that monitors global cyberattacks on his computer at their office in Dongguan, China's southern Guangdong province, on Aug. 4, 2020. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been using Chinese expatriates and Japanese experts to steal state-of-the-art technology for the Chinese regime, Japanese reports have revealed.

After being questioned, these people leave Japan without indictment.

Early in April, Japanese police reportedly investigated a CCP member who, while working as a technician for a Japanese company, sent to China advanced Japanese farming technology data, according to The Japan Times, which reported that the man had ties with the CCP’s military.

This is the most recent case of CCP espionage in Japan being exposed by Japanese police.

The man allegedly admitted to Japanese police that he had stolen the data and left Japan after the interview.

A former Japanese intelligence officer has called for Japan to ramp up legislative efforts to stop the leaking of technology, by checking the backgrounds of those who have access to confidential information.

Over the past few years, Japan has become a major target for technology theft by the CCP owing to technology bans imposed by the United States on China.

“It is imperative [for Japan] to establish a security clearance system as soon as possible, which would require that only those who pass the clearance have access to classified information,” said Masatoshi Fujitani, visiting professor at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology and senior researcher at the Economic Security Management Agency.

Fujitani previously worked at the Public Security Intelligence Agency, which researches and analyses international terrorism, China, North Korea, Russia, and economic security.

Fujitani stated on Japanese cable channel ABEMA that he estimated China has sent 20,000 to 25,000 spies to Japan, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA) in July 2022.

Fujitani told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that the communist regime’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) decides which technology it needs, and the Ministry of Public Security executes the espionage.

A woman picks tea leaves at the Moriuchi Tea Farm in Shizuoka, Japan, on May 1, 2014 (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Smart agriculture is included in the MOC’s 2022 Catalog of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment, which uses modern technologies to strengthen productivity. The data the Chinese man sent back to China are reportedly “related to a program installed on a device used to maintain the appropriate environment needed to grow agricultural products, including the temperature inside greenhouses and soil moisture.”

The MOC is not the only department that conducts industrial espionage in Japan, according to Fujitani.

Besides the MOC, the Ministry of Science and Technology also sends technical officials to the Chinese Embassy to collect and analyze technical intelligence from the host country.

“I know of one such official in the Economic and Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo,” said Fujitani.

‘Human Wave Tactics’

The CCP uses Chinese citizens in its espionage activities, which is stipulated in Article Seven of China’s National Intelligence Law, effective in June 2017, obliging Chinese people and companies to cooperate with the regime’s intelligence agencies. The CCP calls the strategy “human wave tactics” owing to the huge number of civilians possibly involved.

Under such a law, any Chinese people in Japan can be made spies for the CCP, even if they do not like the CCP.

The law’s enactment has sparked concern in Japan.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Justice, by the end of 2022, there were 745,411 Chinese citizens living in Japan, not including naturalized Japanese citizens.

Fujitani expressed concern over the absence of anti-spy laws in Japan and the lack of manpower in Japan’s intelligence agencies.

“As Japan does not have an anti-spy law, it is impossible for Japan to enforce the law against [Chinese] espionage, which can be treated as a violation of immigration control law, theft, and other minor crimes,” Fujitani said, adding that the CCP’s extensive spying activities involve both Chinese residents and Japanese citizens.

“If one day the Chinese communist army develops weapons and attacks Japan with technology stolen from Japan, I don’t think any Japanese can accept this,” Fujitani added.

Chinese Student Turned Into Spy

The CCP uses patriotism to instigate international students to perform industrial or military espionage for the regime.

In Japan in 2021, a 36-year-old suspect, identified as Wang Jianbin, was a former student studying in Japan. He was allegedly acting under the direction of the wife of a member of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) cyberwarfare Unit 61419.

Chinese soldiers work at computers. Cyberattacks from China have continued despite agreements from the CCP to stop. (mil.huanqiu.com)

The police told Nikkei Asia that Wang was influenced by the military member through social media to “contribute to the state.” He was also told that “we have a powerful team.”

Wang devised a fake company and an alias to attempt to illegally purchase advanced Japanese security software that is sold only to Japanese businesses. However, the company that sells the software found discrepancies in Wang’s application and rejected the transaction.

Wang was also instructed by the PLA member’s wife to rent a server and share the ID and password. In 2016 and 2017, the server was allegedly used to launch cyberattacks on 200 Japanese companies and research institutions, including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Tokyo police obtained an arrest warrant for Wang, who had already left Japan.

Japanese Researcher Leaks Information to Chinese Company

Reports show that the CCP also targets Japanese experts for confidential information via social media platforms.

In one case, a former Japanese researcher for a leading Japanese chemical firm allegedly leaked confidential information to a major Chinese electronic component manufacturer in China’s southern Guangdong Province.

The 45-year-old man is a resident of Osaka’s Yodogawa Ward who worked at Sekisui Chemical Co., according to the Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese news outlet. The man sent the information twice to the Chinese company between August 2018 and January 2019 using his own email account.

He was reportedly approached on LinkedIn and the police accused him of leaking trade secrets about the manufacturing process of conductive particles, which are used in smartphone touch panels, to Chaozhou Three-Circle (Group) Co., Ltd. The company invited him to China several times and paid for his travel and hotel.

He admitted to the charges, Asahi Shimbun reported.

Sekisui dismissed the man in May 2019.

After Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office in October 2021, he had the Economic Security Promotion Act passed in May 2022. He also appointed conservative politician Takaichi Sanae as the minister of state for economic security in August 2022.

Jiang Zuoyin contributed to this report.