The arrest and prosecution of Japanese citizens in China is fuelling public anxiety and deterring travel, Japan’s government has warned, as academics and businesspeople said they were either taking precautions or avoiding visits altogether.
Advertisement
Tokyo expressed its concern about deteriorating relations on Wednesday after a court in Beijing sentenced a Japanese employee of pharmaceuticals manufacturer Astellas Pharma to three years and six months in prison for espionage.
The man, who has not been named but is reported to be in his sixties, was initially detained in March 2023 as he prepared to leave China after working in the country. He was indicted last August, and the first hearing in his case took place three months later.
The sentencing hearing on Wednesday was not open to the press, but officials from the Japanese embassy in Beijing were permitted to attend, Jiji Press reported.
“It is extremely regrettable that a guilty ruling was issued,” Japanese ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi told reporters after the hearing. “We will continue to call strongly for his early release while supporting him as much as we can.”
Speaking later in the day in Tokyo, a foreign ministry spokesman said the arrest of Japanese nationals “has become one of the major obstructive factors for people-to-people exchanges … and improvements in public sentiment”, as quoted on Jiji Press.