Chinese authorities have indicted a Japanese executive from Astellas Pharma, after detaining him in China since last year on suspicion of espionage, according to media reports.
The individual, an executive at the Tokyo-based drugmaker's China unit, was detained in Beijing in March 2023 and interrogated under “residential surveillance,” and then formally arrested the following October, according to Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun.
The details of the exec's alleged crime have not been shared, nor has his name been revealed — only that he spent over 20 years posted in China and previously served as vice chair of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China.
The situation deepens concerns about how Japanese companies conduct business in China, following China's tightening of its anti-spying law last July. The two countries have had a tense relationship for decades, made worse by territorial disputes over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and Tokyo aligning with the U.S. on Taiwan.