China formally arrests 2 alleged Japanese spies

October 15, 2017

Beijing- Chinese authorities last month formally arrested two Japanese men who had been detained in the country in March on suspicion of violating antiespionage and national security laws, Japanese diplomats said Friday.

The two were among the six Japanese men captured after hot spring surveys and other activities in the eastern and southern provinces of Shandong and Hainan. Four of them were released in July and came back to Japan.

According to diplomatic sources, meanwhile, a trial of another Japanese, Hideji Suzuki, head of a Japan-China youth exchange group, started at a Beijing court in August after he was arrested in February and indicted in June for allegedly harming China's national security.

Many Japanese nationals have been detained since the anti-espionage law took effect in China in 2014. Eight of them are still in custody and trials have started for five of the remaining detainees. Jiji Press