Overview

• A Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court handed a 3½-year espionage sentence to an unnamed Astellas Pharma executive who has been detained since March 2023 and charged in October of that year.
• Japan’s embassy in Beijing condemned the verdict as “extremely regrettable” after Ambassador Kenji Kanasugi’s repeated appeals for early release were spurned on national security grounds.
• Kyodo News reports that five other Japanese nationals remain in Chinese custody under the 2014 counterespionage law with minimal consular access and undisclosed evidence.
• In response to growing legal risks, Japanese companies are issuing stripped-down smartphones to employees bound for China and scaling back new staff assignments.
• The case follows a broader trend of security-driven detentions, including recent arrests of WPP Plc and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. employees, fueling uncertainty for foreign businesses in China.