Chinese court sentences a Japanese man to more than 3 years in prison on espionage charges
The embassy did not identify the man, who has been detained since March 2023. Japan's Kyodo News Agency described him as a man in his 60s and an employee of Astellas Pharma Inc., a major Japanese pharmaceutical company.
The man was charged with espionage in August and his first hearing was held in November but no details were released.
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court did not immediately make an announcement after handing down the sentence.
Kenji Kanasugi, the Japanese ambassador to China, called the sentencing 'extremely regrettable." The Japanese government has protested a series of detentions of its citizens in China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that judicial authorities had handled the case in strict accordance with the law and that China provides a sound environment for Japanese companies and workers.
"As long as foreign nationals in China abide by the law and engage in lawful employment, there is nothing to worry about,' he said.
A total of 17 Japanese citizens with business or other connections to China have been detained since 2014, when China enacted the anti-spying law. Five remain in China, Kyodo reported. A Japanese diplomat was detained for questioning in 2022 and released hours later, prompting strong protests from Japan.
Kanasugi was present at Wednesday's ruling, but Japanese reporters were not allowed inside the courtroom. He told reporters that Japan has demanded and will continue to demand the early release of detained Japanese nationals, adding that such detentions are 'one of the biggest obstacles to improving people-to-people exchanges and public sentiment between Japan and China.'
A statement released by the Japanese embassy in Beijing urged the Chinese government to ensure the humane treatment of detainees and to improve the transparency of the judicial process.
Japan considers China's growing influence in the region as a threat to its national security and economy, and the risks of getting caught in China on espionage allegations are a growing concern in Japan, including its business community. A safety handbook for visitors to China, published by the Japanese embassy in Beijing, urges visitors to use extra caution.
___
Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.
Ken Moritsugu And Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press
登入存取你的投資組合
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
5 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Giant pandas, tiger attacks and the ugly fight to control the San Francisco Zoo
Molting peacocks squawked in the distance and a Pacific breeze whispered through the eucalyptus as flamingo keeper Liz Gibbons tidied her station at the San Francisco Zoo. It had been an unusually cold summer in a city famous for them. Marooned on 'a breathtaking piece of land' at the peninsula's far western edge, steps from the deadly surf at Ocean Beach, the timeworn seaside menagerie had endured weeks of gray gloom. But late that July afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds. Then word began to spread. 'Everybody was like, 'Oh my God, did you hear?'' the keeper recalled. 'It's the news we've been waiting for.' For more than a year, the keepers, gardeners, train drivers and office staff of Teamsters Local 856 had been fighting to unseat their boss, longtime San Francisco Zoo Chief Executive Tanya Peterson. They were not alone. A growing chorus of animal activists, government watchdogs and civic leaders had called for Peterson to step down. In May, the San Francisco Zoological Society, the park's nonprofit operator, split down the middle in a failed attempt to remove her. From late last spring through early this summer, there was a vote of no confidence by the union, a blistering exposé in the San Francisco Chronicle, a damning report by the Animal Control and Welfare Commission, a looming audit by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a hail-Mary intercession by Mayor Daniel Lurie. Even the consul general of China had privately sought Peterson's ouster. 'He was like, 'You have issues — fix them,'' said Supervisor Myrna Melgar, whose district includes the zoo. A similar fight recently sent fur flying in Los Angeles, where the city and its former nonprofit zoo partner have locked horns over control of a $50-million endowment. At stake in San Francisco's power struggle is a pair of cuddly new tourist magnets: two giant pandas from China, hailed as a coup for the tarnished Golden City when then-Mayor London Breed inked the deal to bring them last year. Only two other American zoos have pandas: San Diego and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. In San Francisco, where nearly a quarter of residents identify as Chinese, the thrill was palpable. City Hall hoped the panda prestige would burn off any lingering haze of a doom loop. 'We're getting our house in order,' Lurie said. 'We already are a world-class city. When the pandas arrive in San Francisco, that's just going to be yet another draw.' Others saw the black-and-white bears as a rebuke to Trumpian isolationism. 'The best response to the displeasure of Washington is to be awesome and successful,' Melgar said. 'The pandas are a part of our success and a part of our value system.' For Peterson, who led the zoo since 2008, bringing a pair of the world's most sought-after animals to San Francisco was a dream come true. The political urgency and multimillion-dollar price tag seemed to ensure her continued leadership. 'The same day that the [Zoological Society] board was meant to vote her out, she let everyone know she was meeting with the Chinese Consulate,' said activist journalist Justin Barker of SF Zoo Watch. Peterson 'essentially tells the Board of Supervisors, 'If you move forward with this audit, you might not get pandas.'' So how did the ace up her leopard-print sleeve bring her down? Peterson did not respond to requests for comment. In an emailed statement, zoo spokesperson Sam Singer said she 'served with distinction and devotion.' In her own message to staff this month, Peterson likened her planned departure on Aug. 1 to the death of the zoo's beloved silverback gorilla, writing that 'some animals may leave this earth, but they never leave our souls.' 'It has been an honor to serve you, our animals, and the loyal constituents of this amazing community,' she said. For workers, her exit brought elation. 'I haven't seen this level of positivity and excitement ever,' said Stephanie Carpenter, a reptile and amphibian keeper. Former carnivore curator Travis Shields name-checked the infamous large cat wrangler from the Netflix series 'Tiger King' when asked what the next zoo leader should bring in comparison with Peterson. 'I don't think [keepers] care who comes next,' he said. 'It can't be any worse unless Joe Exotic comes in — and he's still in prison.' But the long fight has clawed open old wounds. Many in and around the zoo described the bitter panda power struggle as the worst crisis the institution has faced since the fatal tiger attack that vaunted Peterson to her current position and nearly shut down the zoo. 'They're holding their breath,' said one former manager, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. 'It's a similar feeling to after the tiger got out — what's going to happen to everything?' For Peterson's usurpers, the $25-million question is now: What's going to happen to the pandas? The rise of Tanya Peterson is inextricably linked to the fall of Tatiana the tiger, the first and only animal to escape and kill a visitor at an Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited facility. San Francisco acquired the 2½ -year-old, 242-pound Siberian from the Denver Zoo in 2005 as a mate for its 14-year old male Tony. They lived in the tiger grotto and were fed at the Art Deco-style Lion House, built for the original Fleishhacker Zoo by the Works Progress Administration. The park's original Depression-era structures are iconic, rising gray and craggy from the muted landscape like the Monterey cypress through the ever-present fog. 'The zoo is right on the water, it's right next to the beach and all the structures are daily battered by the fog and the wind and the sand and the salt,' Melgar said. Much of the century-old site is in disrepair. 'The infrastructure really left a lot to be desired,' said Manuel Mollinedo, who took over as the executive director of the San Francisco Zoo in 2004 after a successful turnaround at the Los Angeles Zoo. Twenty years before Tatiana arrived, the tiger grotto was briefly repurposed to house two giant pandas, Yun-Yun and Ying-Xin, who passed through during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics before visiting again in 1985. Those publicity tours preceded a slump in attendance through the mid-1990s. In 1993, the nonprofit San Francisco Zoological Society took over operations, while the city retained ownership of the property. Many zoos are run on a similar nonprofit model, including the Bronx Zoo and the San Diego Zoo, Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums President Dan Ashe said. Others, such as the Los Angeles Zoo, are run by cities or for profit. By the mid-aughts, efforts to draw in more blue-collar visitors had begun to bear fruit, and tax records show more than a million people were coming each year. 'The zoo had really turned a corner,' Mollinedo said. 'Our attendance was the highest it had ever been since the pandas were brought in 20 years before.' Then, during a public feeding in the Lion House in December 2006, Tatiana reached under the bars and grabbed keeper Lori Komejan by the arm. The tiger mauled her as she attempted to drag her into the cage, leading to permanent damage, according to a lawsuit later settled with the city. But that wasn't the end of it. One year after that incident, on Christmas Day 2007 — Tatiana escaped, mauling two men and killing a teenager. The city and the zoo ultimately reached financial settlements with the injured men and the family of 17-year-old Carlos Eduardo Sousa Jr. A federal investigation found panda-era modifications probably paved the way for Tatiana's escape. 'It was really rough for everybody,' said Gibbons, the flamingo keeper, who grew up in the Outer Sunset neighborhood and climbed the ranks through the zoo's youth volunteer program. 'I remember the city wanting to close it as a zoo and have it be a sanctuary.' Instead, the board pushed Mollinedo out and installed Peterson, a fellow board member and an attorney at Hewlett-Packard, whose then-husband had just run the finance committee for then-Mayor Gavin Newsom's reelection campaign. 'She said all the right things — that she wanted to hear from staff, that her door was always open,' longtime zoo gardener Marc Villa said. 'For the time being, it was kind of a breath of fresh air.' Echoing other critics, Mollinedo said Peterson 'knew nothing about animals.' But she made up for it with philanthropic prowess. 'She's a good fundraiser, I'll give her that,' said San Francisco Recreation and Park Commissioner Larry Mazzola Jr., who heads the zoo advisory committee. As interim CEO, Peterson swapped her corporate wardrobe for ostrich-feathered sheaths, tiger-striped hatbands, snakeskin-patterned coats and cheetah-spotted sneakers. Her early tenure was already marked by constant tension between what animal experts felt needed fixing and what donors wanted done. Outrage over half-finished safety measures led the Teamsters to their first no-confidence vote in 2014. 'All of this has been degenerating for a long time,' Melgar said. 'We have not had labor peace at that institution for years.' By 2024, the zoo's annual attendance had slipped to 700,000 — 15% below the nadir after the tiger attack, and roughly two-thirds of the yearly visitors to the Oakland Zoo across the bay. The pandas were supposed to fix all those problems. Instead, they fomented a coup. When Breed announced the panda deal late last April, zookeepers were shocked. 'None of the senior managers knew anything about it,' Villa said. 'Everybody's scrambled: How do we make this work? Where are we going to put them? It was just, 'Hey, we're getting pandas!'' It was a week after the union's second vote of no confidence against Peterson. To many, the move felt emblematic of her leadership flaws. 'If we do have a vision for this zoo besides pandas, it's not been communicated very well,' Villa said. Pandas are wildly popular with the public. But they're a thornier prospect for zoos, experts warn. The bears cannot be kept near lions or other large carnivores. They need a special diet, experienced keepers and state-of-the-art new enclosures. For San Francisco, the cost has been estimated at $25 million. Raising that money will fall to the interim CEO, which San Francisco has not yet named. The search for a permanent replacement will pit San Francisco against two of the state's premier animal attractions, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the San Diego Zoo. Despite the promise of greater oversight and the possibility of more funding from the city, many animal activists and former zoo staff remain staunchly opposed to the panda project. Some current keepers also expressed concerns. 'Guests are always asking, 'Where are the tigers? Where are the monkeys? Where are all these animals that used to be here?' We need to take care of the animals we have right now,' said Carpenter, the reptile keeper. But City Hall remains staunchly pro-panda. So does the Chinese Consulate, the Teamsters and the Board of Supervisors, which just last month threatened to withhold $4 million from the Zoological Society over its failure to produce audit paperwork. 'People are proud that we're doing this, and want us to pull it off,' Melgar said. 'The pandas will have a view of the ocean!' The Chinese visitors were originally slated to arrive at the end of this year. Then, this spring, they were assured by next April, just after the Super Bowl. That date has been pushed again, to the end of 2026. 'We don't know where we're going,' Villa said. 'Everything runs on rumors and speculation.' For now, the Teamsters are keeping their ears perked, waiting for good news to swirl in with the fog.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Officials try to identify 18 bodies in deadly Iraq shopping mall fire
BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials struggled Friday to identify more than a dozen bodies pulled from a deadly shopping mall fire in Iraq, amid ongoing investigations into what caused the blaze. An Iraqi medical official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment said the final death toll was 63, including 18 bodies that could not be identified due to the severity of the burns and would undergo DNA testing. The Corniche Hypermarket mall in the town of Kut in Wasit province, a five-story building containing restaurants, shops and a supermarket, had opened just days before the blaze, which officials said broke out late Wednesday on the second floor in an area selling perfume and cosmetics. Civil defense crews were able to rescue 45 people from the burning building. Officials said that most of those who died were trapped on the upper floors. While the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, officials blamed lack of safety standards in the building for the scale of the tragedy. Provincial Gov. Mohammed al-Miyahi has said that the building owner did not implement fire safety measures and had not applied for required permits. The provincial council of Wasit on Thursday voted to form committees to carry out building safety inspections and to suspend the director of Kut municipality and the director of occupational safety until investigations into the fire are complete. Al-Miyahi said Thursday that legal complaints had been filed against the building owner and shopping center owner, who could not be reached for comment. The governor said in a press conference that the son of the shopping center owner and other members of his family were among the victims in the blaze. Poor building standards have often contributed to tragic fires in Iraq. In July 2021, a blaze at a hospital in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah that killed between 60 to 92 people was determined to have been fueled by highly flammable, low-cost type of 'sandwich panel' cladding that is illegal in Iraq. In 2023, more than 100 people died in a fire at a wedding hall in the predominantly Christian area of Hamdaniya in Nineveh province after the ceiling panels above a pyrotechnic machine burst into flames.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Taiwan will 'not provoke confrontation' with China, vice president says
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan will not provoke a confrontation with China, the self-ruled island's vice president said Friday, lamenting Beijing's 'aggressive military posturing' against the island democracy that China claims as its own. 'We do not seek conflict. We will not provoke confrontation,' said Bi-khim Hsiao, adding that her government has urged Beijing to communicate 'with parity and respect.' Hsiao, who has served under Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te since their election win last year, said her government has seen 'a dramatic uptick in provocative and proactive (Chinese Communist Party) efforts to infiltrate, sabotage and divide our society.' China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly threatened to annex it, by force if necessary. In recent years, Beijing has ramped up its military intimidation of the island, sending jets and ships nearby almost daily. China refuses to speak with Hsiao and Lai and has labeled them 'diehard 'Taiwan independence' separatists,' a designation for which it has threatened the death penalty. In a notable attempt of alleged intimidation by Beijing, Czech intelligence officials last month said Chinese diplomats planned to stage a car crash during Hsiao's 2024 visit to the country. No crash occurred, but a Chinese official ran a red light while following Hsiao's car. 'Over the years, I have experienced varying degrees of pressure and threats, intimidation, including twice sanctioned, but I will not let that intimidate me or stop me from voicing my views or from voicing the views of people of Taiwan, and we will continue to be active in the international community,' she said. 'Everything we are doing right now is to prevent such a conflict from happening – not just in 2027, but ever,' she said. Taiwan is 'very urgently investing in our self-defense capabilities' in order to deter 'any miscalculation and any attempt at disrupting the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,' she added.
