Japanese man in 50s has been detained in China since July

A Japanese man in his 50s was taken into custody in China in July on suspicion of violating its laws, with the case potentially being a source of friction as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to host President Xi Jinping for a state visit next spring.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said yesterday the man was taken into custody in Hunan province and didn’t provide further details on the case when he spoke at a news briefing in Tokyo. Kyodo News cited a Japanese government source as saying the man has likely been detained on an espionage charge.

The news of the detention comes about two weeks after China released a different Japanese man that Beijing said illegally collected secret files. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper and other Japanese media have said the man, not identified by the government, is a professor at Hokkaido University who specializes in Chinese politics.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has publicly stated before the news of the latest detention that 14 Japanese citizens have been held by China since 2015, with five since released and the other nine in custody after Beijing said they violated national security laws.

The cases in Japan come as spying, meddling and even torture allegations are riling China’s relations with some of the world’s top democracies just as Beijing seeks to convince nations that its 5G technology can be trusted. Takashi Hirokawa, Bloomberg