The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday (December 25) that the case of a third Japanese citizen’s arrest was being investigated in accordance with the law.
Earlier, Japan said that a third Japanese citizen had been arrested in China, in addition to two others arrested earlier this year for spying.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference that the woman, who had been taken into custody in Shanghai in June, was formally arrested last month. He gave no further details, including whether she was suspected of spying.
“As far as I know, Chinese relevant departments are investigating the relevant case in accordance with the law. We have already reported the situation to the Japanese side. Here I have no further details to provide,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters.
In September, China said it had arrested two Japanese for spying and a Chinese embassy official in Tokyo later confirmed that two others were being held.
Suga said the fourth was a man, said by Japanese media to have been helping people flee North Korea, who was taken into custody in June and was now under criminal detention.
Suga reiterated that Japan did not engage in spying in any country but declined further comment on the specific cases.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has overseen a tightening of already strict security laws and regulations, including setting up a new national security commission and renaming the national security law, which took effect in 1993, as the Counter espionage Law.
In 2010, four Japanese nationals were temporarily detained in China on suspicion of entering a military zone and taking photographs without permission. The detentions came at a time of escalating tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.
Chinese ties with Japan have long been troubled by a territorial dispute and what Beijing sees as Tokyo’s failure to properly atone for wartime atrocities, as well as regional rivalry and mutual military suspicious. But relations have improved since Abe and Xi met in November 2014.
Source: Reuters