China sentences journalist detained at meal with Japanese diplomat to 7 years for espionage

According to his family, a well-known Chinese journalist was given a seven-year prison sentence for espionage by a Beijing court on Friday. Commentator and editor Dong Yuyu was arrested by authorities in February 2022 as he was meeting with a Japanese diplomat at a restaurant. Since then, he has been under police detention. The ruling identified Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada and then-Japanese ambassador Hideo Tarumi as members of an espionage group, the family said.

At one of China’s five main state-owned newspapers, Guangming Daily, Dong had been the deputy chief of the editorial department. Compared to other state-sponsored publications, the paper was originally thought to be more liberal. Dong also made contributions to the New York Times’ Chinese version. Dong expressed his support for constitutional democracy and political reform in numerous published works, including essays and opinion pieces, which were later viewed as opposing the Communist Party’s position.

During his decades-long career, he kept in touch with foreign diplomats, academics, and other journalists, and he considered Tarumi, the ambassador, a confidant. His family did, however, claim that he tried to be as open as possible when he met with his American or Japanese contacts because he was aware that state security was constantly watching him. Because of Yuyu’s belief, every Chinese national will be expected to be aware that the Chinese government may view Japanese embassies as “espionage organizations” while interacting with them or any other foreign embassy or diplomat. “Every sensible Chinese citizen should be appalled by this reasoning.” The U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, condemned Dong’s conviction. “Punishing Dong for exercising his freedom of speech and the press, guaranteed by the PRC’s constitution for all its citizens, is unjust.”