Living and Working in China: First, Know the Risk

In recent years, a growing number of foreigners have been detained in China ー among them, quite a few Japanese nationals. Their detention is in line with paramount leader Xi Jinping's emphasis on national security and society-wide surveillance.

The Japanese embassy in Beijing has even posted a warning to Japanese living in the country. It advises Japanese citizens to take great care to avoid acting in any manner that might be construed by the Chinese Communist authorities as a violation of China's draconian anti-espionage law. 

This warning comes in the wake of a Chinese court's recent sentencing a Japanese national to three years and six months in prison for spying. The unnamed longtime resident of China, who is in his sixties, was an executive of the local subsidiary of Japan's Astellas Pharma, Inc. He had previously served as vice chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. 

According to Chinese reports, he was initially arrested in March 2023 for allegedly passing on political and economic information about China to Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency (kōanchōsa-chō) (PSIA). 

Pressure to 'Plead Guilty'

In 2018, China revised its Code of Criminal Procedure to allow defendants to receive a lighter sentence if they acknowledge their guilt. The Astellas Pharma employee was apparently the first detained Japanese to do so. He pleaded guilty to the espionage charges.

However, the specific crimes he was alleged to have committed have not been revealed. Some have guessed that since he was being reassigned to Japan, he may have possessed data that the Chinese considered sensitive. However, there have also been reports that Astellas was not fully cooperative with China's "Zero COVID" policy. In any event, the Astellas employee's sentence appears lighter than that of previous Japanese nationals found guilty of espionage. 

Some reports also suggest that the Chinese leadership's desire to stabilize relations with Japan played a role. All of this comes against the backdrop of Chinese tensions with the Trump administration.

A Chinese press conference following the announcement of the Astellas verdict. In it, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian said, "As long as foreign personnel in China and coming to China abide by the law ... there is nothing to be worried or anxious about." 

If only things were as simple as Lin suggested. Under China's ambiguous national security law and oppressive surveillance system, Japanese citizens face the risk of being unknowingly labeled as "spies." And this risk is likely to increase further in the future.

Fewer Japanese Choose China Residency

As of October 2024, there were roughly 97,500 Japanese living in the People's Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao). It was the first time since 2004 that the total had dropped below 100,000. In fact, 2024 was the 12th consecutive year in which their number had declined. Back in 2012, there were an estimated 135,000 Japanese living in China. 

One major reason for the exodus is the arbitrary enforcement of Beijing's purposely vague Counterespionage Law. First passed in 2014, it was revised in 2023 to expand the scope of espionage activities and strengthen the government's authority to investigate and prosecute "suspects." 

The definition of espionage was also expanded to include not only "state secrets" but also the provision or theft of "documents and data related to national security and interests." Penalties for espionage were also made harsher, including life imprisonment and even the death penalty in extreme cases.

The law obliges Chinese institutions and companies to strictly manage "state secrets." However, since the definition of "state secrets" remains unclear, acquiring, sharing, or disseminating various kinds of information obtained may be deemed illegal. Chinese officials are now free to expansively interpret information that is commercial in nature as a "state secret."

Authorities are also increasingly treating legitimate corporate activities and even everyday information gathering as espionage. As a result, any foreign national may now end up as a criminal suspect for gathering information on local economic policies and statistics ー or meeting with local officials. In fact, several Japanese have received long prison sentences for simply conducting unauthorized land surveys.

Reducing the 'China Risk'

There is a troubling lack of clarity about how China defines national security. As one China-based foreign lawyer has put it, "National security is a black hole."

Veteran attorney Dan Harris addressed this in his article, "Protect Your Business by Reducing Your China Risks," posted on April 22 on the China Law Blog. He states:

"Under China's amended Counterespionage Law, activities like corporate due diligence, academic collaboration, or compliance audits could now be interpreted as 'espionage.' In such cases, due process is minimal, state security overrides legal protections, and access to consular support can be inconsistent." 

China has also been tightening the law's application to its own citizens, including human rights activists, lawyers, and prominent journalists. In a February 2022 case, Dong Yuyu, an outspoken reporter for the Guangming Daily who had studied at Harvard University and served as a visiting professor at Hokkaido University, was having lunch with a Japanese diplomat at a hotel in Beijing when the police suddenly dragged him away. The diplomat was also detained for a brief period. Dong was later sentenced to seven years in prison. 

Who Gets Detained

At least 17 Japanese nationals have been detained since the counterespionage law first took effect in 2014. China has reportedly told the Japanese government that nine were given prison sentences after being found guilty of espionage by local courts. At least five are still in Chinese jails. Spy trials in China are often held behind closed doors, and details of the charges are not made public. 

Although the Japanese government routinely issues calls for the early release of its detained citizens, the Chinese authorities just as routinely ignore them. Notably, given the economic ties with China, a strong response may be considered difficult. 

Also, once a person is indicted in China, the chances of release become extremely low. One Japanese man in his 70s, detained in Beijing in 2015 and serving a 12-year sentence for espionage, died in prison. That was despite the Japanese government's requests for his release on humanitarian grounds.

Another highly unusual case involved Hokkaido University professor Nobu Iwatani, who was detained at a Beijing hotel in September 2019. Iwatani's research centers on modern Chinese history, especially the Chinese Nationalist Party during the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War. It is a subject that the CCP is not eager to have foreign scholars delve into too deeply.

Then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe joined a chorus in the media and academia to call for Iwatani's early release. Chinese President Xi Jinping was scheduled to visit Japan the following year, in 2020. And that is probably the reason why the professor was eventually released on bail after two months and returned to Japan. Several Chinese scholars teaching at Japanese universities have also been detained on visits to China. 

Spies and Hostages

Western nations sometimes agree to "hostage exchanges" to obtain the release of their citizens who have been imprisoned in authoritarian countries like Russia and China. Such was the case with two Canadian citizens detained in China on suspicion of espionage. They were only freed after Meng Wanzhou, the vice chairwoman of Huawei Technologies, was released from house arrest in Vancouver. 

However, because it lacks a dedicated anti-espionage law, Japan has not been able to pursue a similar strategy due to a lack of high-value prisoners. 

There appear to be no Chinese spies detained in Japan at the moment. Yet, it defies common sense and all evidence about how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operates to assume that Beijing is not running spies inside Japan. Of course, such spies need not necessarily be Chinese nationals. 

One sure way for a Japanese resident of China to get detained is to have contact with a Japanese government agency that collects intelligence. Especially if money changes hands or the agency is Japan's PSIA.. The content of the information passed on seems less important than the fact that there has been interaction with the PSIA. 

In the Name of National Security

The PSIA is an arm of the Ministry of Justice. Its primary focus is on detecting threats to domestic security, including by monitoring radicals and successor organizations of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. However, it is also authorized to operate abroad, including in China, to gather intelligence to ensure Japan's national security. 

Fundamentally, every major embassy in the world includes staff who are intelligence officers, as do many consulates. Some spies are declared to the host country, although others operate under cover. When a foreign spy who enjoys diplomatic immunity is discovered, he is usually declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the host country. 

China assumes that every foreign diplomat or journalist is a potential spy. That is not surprising, since so many of its own diplomats and journalists are engaged in espionage. It also explains why China is so keen on opening a new "super embassy" in the heart of  London. 

Of course, one of the duties of any diplomat is to gather as much information, of private or public nature, as possible about the country where he is stationed. If it is classified or otherwise highly sensitive, that is all the better. Whether or not the host government chooses to make a fuss when such activity is discovered often depends on the methods of acquisition and the targets of the spying.

Continues in Part 2

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Author: John Carroll

John Carroll is a Kyoto-based freelance writer and JAPAN Forward contributor.