Chinese Journalist Appeals 7-Year Sentence for Espionage; Detained in 2022 After Meeting With Japanese Diplomat

By Daisuke Kawase / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

14:06 JST, December 10, 2024

BEIJING — A veteran journalist with China’s influential Communist Party newspaper on Monday appealed the seven-year prison sentence he received for alleged espionage, according to his family.

Dong Yuyu, 62, is a former deputy head of Guang Ming Daily’s editorial department. He was accused of espionage, but “there isn’t sufficient evidence to prove the charges,” his family said.

Dong was detained in February 2022 while meeting with a Japanese Embassy official in Beijing.

According to sources close to the matter, the charges included Dong interacting with Japanese diplomats. A photo that Dong was given when he was invited by the embassy official for a meal was submitted in court as evidence.

The verdict, which was handed down in a closed court at the end of November, named the diplomats and claimed they were “agents of a spy organization,” according to his family. The family released a statement, questioning if “all future meetings and talks with foreigners will be regarded as assisting with a ‘spy mission.’”

Calls for his release have grown in the international community.

“Diplomatic activities carried out by our embassy and consulate staff in China are legitimate work,” a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Dec. 4. “Chinese people who have contact [with Japanese diplomats] must not suffer unjust disadvantages, impeding personal exchanges between Japan and China.”