Detained Japanese businessman was involved in espionage: Chinese envoy

Tokyo : The Japanese national, an employee of drugmaker Astellas Pharma who was detained in China, was involved in espionage, said Beijing's new ambassador to Tokyo, Wu Jianghao, reported Nikkei Asia.

Responding to queries from reporters at the Japan National Press Club, Wu said, "The core of this incident is that it is a spying incident that touches on China's national security. That fact is becoming more and more certain." Wu also said that it is not China that should back down, but rather the individuals and organizations that are making people like the Astellas employee engage in acts of spying. Tokyo lodged an official protest after the drugmaker company confirmed last month that one of its employees had been detained, as per Nikkei Asia.

He lamented Japanese TV coverage of the incident by saying, "They say that in China you get arrested by walking down the street, by taking photos, by talking with your friends. There is no way that can be true."

The Chinese envoy also said that China will welcome with open arms Japanese people willing to engage in normal economic activity.

Earlier on April, a member of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing conducted a consular meeting with the detained man. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi the next day declined to provide details of the meeting, but confirmed that the man, in his 50s, had no particular health problems, according to Nikkei Asia.

Hayashi said, "During my recent visit to China, I protested this incident and strongly reiterated Japan's resolute position on this matter, including the Japanese national's swift release," adding, "We will continue to strongly urge China, through various levels and occasions, to swiftly release this citizen."

Ambassador Wu also touched on the overall bilateral ties, insisting China has never seen Japan as a rival, let alone a threat or an enemy. Wu drew a contrast with Tokyo's labelling of China as the "greatest strategic challenge" in a National Security Strategy issued last December, according to Nikkei Asia.

Wu effectively urged Japan to develop its China strategy without the assistance of Washington. He expressed his hope that Japan may develop a "strategic autonomy" towards China with an "objective" perspective that takes into account the "trend of the times."

According to him, the Taiwan question is "the foundation of the foundations of Sino-Japanese relations and a red line that must not be crossed."

As President Xi Jinping did in a speech to the Chinese Communist Party's national meeting last October, Wu stated that China will work towards a peaceful unification with Taiwan but would not make the same commitment to giving up using force.

Many of the Japanese people he interacts with have voiced concern over this position, he said. But if you think about it, continuing to use force to prevent Taiwanese independence is a deterrent. It ensures the stability and peace of the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Wu criticised the idea that a Taiwan contingency would also be a Japan contingency, as the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe once stated.

He said, "Connecting a purely domestic Chinese issue to Japan's security is illogical and dangerous."

He also warned, "Japan will be tied to forces that seek to divide China and will be dragged into the fire," reported Nikkei Asia.