Detained Japanese businessman was spy, Chinese envoy says

Wu Jianghao calls on Tokyo to formulate 'autonomous' China policy

Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao speaks at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on April 28. (Photo by Kohei Fujimura) 

KEN MORIYASU, Nikkei Asia diplomatic correspondentApril 28, 2023 15:35 JST

 

TOKYO -- The detention of a Japanese employee of drugmaker Astellas Pharma in China involves espionage, Beijing's new ambassador to Tokyo, Wu Jianghao, alleged on Friday.

Responding to questions from reporters at the Japan National Press Club, Wu said: "The core of this incident is that it is a spy incident that touches on China's national security. That fact is becoming more and more certain."

He said it is not China that should back down, but rather the individuals and organizations that are making people like the Astellas employee engage in acts of espionage. After the drugmaker confirmed last month that one of its employees had been detained, Tokyo lodged an official protest.

Wu lamented Japanese TV coverage of the incident. "They say that in China you get arrested by walking down the street, by taking photos, by talking with your friends. There is no way that can be true."

He said China will welcome with open arms Japanese people willing to engage in normal economic activity.

On April 4, a member of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing conducted a consular meeting with the detained man. Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi the next day declined to provide details of the meeting, but confirmed that the man, in his 50s, had no particular health problems.

"During my recent visit to China, I protested this incident and strongly reiterated Japan's resolute position on this matter, including the Japanese national's swift release," Hayashi said. "We will continue to strongly urge China, through various levels and occasions, to swiftly release this citizen."

On Friday, Ambassador Wu also touched on the overall bilateral relationship, insisting China has never seen Japan as a rival, let alone a threat or an enemy. Wu drew a contrast with Tokyo's labeling of China as the "greatest strategic challenge" in a National Security Strategy issued last December.

Wu, in effect, called for Japan to formulate its China strategy independent of Washington. He said he hopes that Japan can establish an "objective" perception toward China with "strategic autonomy" that takes into consideration the "trend of the times."

He said the issue of Taiwan is "the foundation of the foundations of Sino-Japanese relations and a red line that must not be crossed."

Like President Xi Jinping did in a speech to the Chinese Communist Party's national congress last October, Wu said China will strive for peaceful unification with Taiwan but would not promise to renounce the use of force.

He noted that many of the people he interacts with in Japan have expressed concern about this stance. "But if you think about it, not renouncing the use of force is deterrence against Taiwan independence. It is a guarantee of peace and stability" of the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Wu slammed the notion in Japan, as late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe once put it, that a Taiwan contingency would also be a contingency for Japan. "Connecting a purely domestic Chinese issue to Japan's security is illogical and dangerous," he said.

"Japan will be tied to forces that seek to divide China and will be dragged into the fire," he warned.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Detained-Japanese-businessman-was-spy-Chinese-envoy-says