Asia-Pacific

Japanese man in custody in China since last year Share

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
People stroll through Tiananmen Square in Beijing in March 2019.

By Sayaka Nambu / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

14:45 JST, February 17, 2022

SHANGHAI — A Japanese man in his 50s has been detained in Shanghai by Chinese authorities since December, according to Japanese and Chinese sources.

It is unclear what charges have been made against him and how he was taken into custody.

A number of foreigners have been detained by authorities in China since an anti-espionage law was enacted in 2014.

Another Japanese man who was in his 70s and serving a 12-year prison sentence after being found guilty of engaging in espionage in China, died of a disease on Feb. 7 at a Beijing hospital to which he had been transferred, according to Japanese government sources. After being detained in Beijing in 2015, this man was sentenced by the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court in December 2018.