The risk that Chinese citizens run when meeting with foreign diplomats becomes increasingly evident throughout the trials. On Friday, November 29, a Beijing court sentenced a journalist from the official press to seven years in prison for “espionage” due to his contacts with Japanese diplomats in China. Dong Yuyu, editorialist of daily clarityone of the main publications of the Chinese Communist Party, was arrested in February 2022 during a lunch with a Japanese diplomat. The latter was detained and interrogated before being released.
“Today’s verdict is a grave injustice not only to Yuyu and his family, but also to all free-thinking Chinese journalists and all ordinary Chinese citizens committed to friendly contact with the rest of the world.”his relatives denounce in a press release. They add that the visits from his lawyers and the knowledge of support from the outside world helped the journalist not to falter during his two and a half years in detention awaiting his sentence. They point out that the sentence qualifies the then Japanese ambassador, Hideo Tarumi, and the diplomat who is now consul in Shanghai, Masaru Okada, as agents of a “espionage organization”.
Dong Yuyu, a 62-year-old liberal intellectual, was a long-time contributor to this official party newspaper. Dong Yuyu, who did not hesitate to write that he was in favor of the rule of law, had also contributed over the years to a reformist magazine, Yanhuang Chunqiuwhich has lost its freedom of tone since its acquisition in 2016. He had also written articles for the Chinese online editions of New York Times and of Financial times. He was invited twice, in 2010 and 2014, to work temporarily at universities in Japan and regularly visited foreign diplomats and journalists to feed their thoughts.
intense pressure
His entourage explains in the statement that he had already suffered intense pressure for his writings and sees the conviction as a sentence also for his reformist positions. He was tried in July 2023 behind closed doors, but the announcement of the verdict was long postponed. “Chinese judicial bodies handle cases strictly in accordance with the law. “Those who violate the law and commit crimes or misdemeanors are subject to prosecution.”a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, declared on Friday.
You have 42.76% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
