China Envoy Warns Japan on Taiwan, Sees Spying in Astellas Case

Isabel Reynolds
·3 min read
50

(Bloomberg) -- China’s ambassador warned Japan that Taiwan was a red line not to be crossed, and said the detention of an employee of Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma Inc. was related to a spying incident that damaged Beijing’s sovereignty.

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“Foreign forces are colluding with Taiwan independence forces,” and conducting repeated provocations, Wu Jianghao told reporters in Tokyo on Friday, saying their ultimate goal was to split Taiwan from China. Whipping up a division in China would “lead the Japanese people into a fire,” he added.

Japanese officials have said any contingency in Taiwan would amount to a contingency in Japan, whose southwestern isles neighbor the democratically ruled island. While Tokyo has official ties with Beijing, its ruling party has maintained close informal relations with the leadership in Taipei.

Wu said it was dangerous to link Japan’s security to that of Taiwan. He added the US was conducting a “negative campaign” against China and seeking to involve other countries.

Asked about the detention of an Astellas employee in China last month, Wu said the case was not a question of an innocent person being taken into custody. He said it was increasingly clear the matter affected Chinese national security, adding the man had been made to conduct spying activities.

The comments are some of the most direct made by a senior government official since the employee was detained by Chinese authorities about a month ago.

The employee, whom Astellas has not identified, was in his 50s and had been in China for more than 20 years, the Financial Times has cited people with knowledge of the incident as saying. The country accounts for less than 5% of Astellas’s annual revenue but is a key source of raw materials for the company’s drugs, according to the report.

The case has increased friction between the two biggest economies in Asia. It comes as Japan prepares to host leaders from the Group of Seven nations next month, with the US pressing for its allies and partners to coordinate against economic coercion from the likes of China.

Answering questions in Chinese interpreted into Japanese, Wu said media were giving the impression that visitors could be in danger just walking down the street, taking photographs, or talking to friends. He denied this was the case and said anyone conducting normal friendship or business activities would be welcomed with open arms.

Anyone illegally spying, on the other hand, would be dealt with firmly in accordance with the law, he said. The US and other leading democracies have accused China of using arbitrary detentions of foreign nationals for political purposes.

Seventeen Japanese have been detained in China since 2015, a foreign ministry official told parliament earlier this month. Five are still in Chinese custody, of whom two have received sentences.

In a separate case, staff at Bain & Company’s Shanghai office were questioned by Chinese authorities. Wu said he was not familiar with the details of that case.

(Updates with comments and details throughout.)

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