Chinese ambassador says Astellas Pharma incident involved spying

TOKYO – China’s Ambassador to Japan said the

detention of an employee of Japanese drugmaker

Astellas Pharma was related to espionage and for something that damaged Beijing’s sovereignty.

Mr Wu Jianghao also told reporters in the Japanese capital Tokyo on Friday that the case was not a question of an innocent person being taken into custody.

The comments are some of the most direct made by a senior government official since the employee was detained by the Chinese authorities about a month ago.

The Astellas employee, whom the company has not identified, was in his 50s and had been in China for more than 20 years, the Financial Times cited people with knowledge of the incident as saying.

While the country accounts for only less than 5 per cent of Astellas’ annual revenue, it is a crucial source of raw materials for the company’s medicine, according to the report.

The case has increased friction between the two biggest economies in Asia.

It comes as Japan prepares to host leaders from the Group of Seven nations in May, with the United States pressing for its allies and partners to coordinate against economic coercion from the likes of China.

Seventeen Japanese have been detained in China since 2015, a Foreign Ministry official told Parliament earlier in April.

Five are still in Chinese custody, of whom two have received sentences. 

BLOOMBERG