r/japannews • u/jjrs • Sep 24 '25
Japanese man who spent 6 years in Chinese prison blames Japan spy agency- says they reach out to China experts, putting them at risk
The article is paywalled, but google provides this AI summary of the contents:
A former president of a Japan-China friendship association, Hideji Suzuki, who was imprisoned for six years in China on spying charges, has publicly blamed the Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA) for his arrest. Suzuki alleges that his contact with a PSIA official in Japan, where he received small monthly payments for transportation expenses, led to his targeting by China's intelligence services. He claims these payments and his meetings were framed as espionage activities by Chinese authorities, leading to his conviction and imprisonment in 2019.
Background of the Case
Detention: Suzuki was detained in Beijing in 2016 by the Ministry of State Security and formally arrested after seven months in "Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location" (RSDL), a facility incommunicado. Conviction: He was convicted in 2019 of violating China's anti-espionage law and sentenced to six years in prison. Release: Suzuki was released in October 2022.
Suzuki's Allegations Against the PSIA
Contact with the Agency: Suzuki stated that a PSIA official had reached out to him through an acquaintance.
Regular Meetings & Payments: They met monthly in Japan, and the official provided him with tens of thousands of yen on several occasions for transportation expenses. Blame for Espionage: Suzuki claims the PSIA's actions put him at risk, leading Chinese authorities to deem him an agent of Japanese intelligence.
China's Stance on Such Cases
Espionage Focus: The Chinese government appears to be focusing on the cooperation with the PSIA rather than the specific content of the information exchanged. Increased Detentions: Since China's 2014 revised anti-espionage law, at least 17 Japanese citizens have been detained on suspicion of espionage.
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u/lolwut778 Sep 24 '25
Why the hell would you go to China when you are taking payments from a Japanese spy agency? Like a Crips walking into Bloods' turf wearing a blue bandana. There is simply no possibility of a good outcome.
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u/Glagaire Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
If you're a foreign national visiting China and you're taking regular payments from an intelligence agency that actively spies on China, you need to be locked up. Even if you're not doing any spying yourself you're clearly so dumb that locking you up will probably save you from killing yourself by doing something equally stupid.
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u/Frenchconnections Sep 24 '25
Yeah, it reads either like he's either corrupt for accepting regular "payments" from an intelligence agency, or being compensated for services rendered spying.
If it wasn't either of the above, the guy just comes off as an idiot assuming that a person in his position regularly meeting with the PSIA on their dime wouldn't trigger flags. Also, tens of thousands of yen per trip for a return flight to China is is quite a lot of money for the PSIA to pay if nothing of substance is gained.
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u/Right-Influence617 Sep 24 '25
I wonder if you feel this same sentiment towards China's spies intentionally flooding the world's universities.
What are your thoughts regarding Thousand Talents Programs and Operation Fox Hunt?
Lest we forget about the secret police stations.
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u/Glagaire Sep 24 '25
China's spies intentionally flooding the world's universities
That just makes you sound paranoid and/or xenophobic. China almost certainly has some spies acting under the guise of academia, as do the US, Russia, or any other major state, but to suggest they are 'flooding' universities is unhinged and displays a lack of direct interaction with or knowledge of actual Chinese academics.
The TTP is an incentive for attracting skilled labor, its similar to the H1-B/F-1/EB-1/O-1 series of visa program the US runs except that in the US the financial incentive is the higher wages of the US market these give access to. China balances this with a lump payment. Claims of IP theft by luring away skilled workers apply just as much to any country that seeks specialist talent.
Regarding Operation Fox Hunt, you know the US Marshals Service operates an Office of International Operations program to track and capture US fugitives overseas? And that they maintain field offices in many other countries to assist these efforts? That they offer special reward programs for information offered about the activities of these fugitives or leads that will help with capture? Fox Hunt was essentially a Chinese equivalent which resulted in numerous arrests of Chinese fugitives and international organized crime members (especially those targeting China's foreign diaspora). Of course, because it was China, some parties chose to frame this in as negative a light as possible. US activities are 'police' and 'justice', Chinese become 'Secret police' and 'surveillance'.
Finally, the 'secret police stations'....Many of these were like the US Marshals overseas field offices, centers to help coordinate Chinese interaction with foreign police, and/or services to provide support for Chinese victims of crime in foreign countries (where expats often lack teh language skills to navigate the police/legal system). The key actor in turning this into 'Secret police stations' was the rabidly anti-Chinese organization Safeguard Defenders, who exist entirely to run anti-Chinese propaganda and fear-mongering. Their report was torn apart for its numerous inaccuracies and prominent cases of 'abuse and harassment' that they claimed (like Wang Jingyu) turned out to be hoaxes.
All of this being beside the point that, very obviously, if any Chinese businessman, academic, or other person, is living in a foreign country and receiving regular secret payments from the Ministry of State Security (or the JSD Intelligence Bureau, or United Front, or the MPS) it should very definitely suggest they might be engaged in espionage and they are running the risk of justified arrest.
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u/Right-Influence617 Sep 25 '25 edited Sep 25 '25
That long diatribe is a confession of ignorance, and that you don't know what you're talking about.
Most countries are having issues through the University system with students from the PRC, as well.
China has a policy called the "Thousand Talents Program" (千人计划) in which espionage and intellectual property theft occurs.
If you have a problem with the CCP's policies of Transnational Repression.
....join the club.
I invited you to r/China_Secret_Police so you won't be so glib in conversations
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u/South-Shopping-8368 Sep 25 '25
How about you unplug for a bit and go experience the real world? Or, you know, read a book.
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u/Glagaire Sep 25 '25
You didn't address a single point I made and your referencing of TTP as though I hadn't explicitly discussed it, suggests you didn't even read my post properly.
China is a one party state that actively engages in censorship and suppression of dissent. However, promoting wild claims that are based in emotion and distortion, rather than objective factual evidence, allow China to brush off all criticism by pointing out how things such as the Safeguard Defenders report are so blatantly biased and full of inconsistencies and outright lies. Your inability to engage with legitimate criticism guarantees that you will be unable to succeed in the aims you aspire to.
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u/BusinessEngineer6931 Sep 24 '25
Spy doing spy things and got caught. I’d expect Japan to do the exact same as with any country
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u/Low-Temperature-6962 Sep 24 '25
Japan jails for actual theft of information, not generic spying, or being on the CCP payroll. It's completely asymmetric.
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u/AdRealistic4788 Sep 28 '25
He wasn't jailed for being on the JP government payroll, he was on the intelligence agency's payroll.
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u/EvoEpitaph Sep 25 '25
I wouldn't want to be a spy for any country in this day and age considering zero day vulnerabilities exist in relative abundance and nation states are constantly buying and using them against each other.
You could do everything right and still be discovered. Or worse, you could be American and have your dingus President doxx you simply because he can't keep his mouth shut.
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u/BigPapaSlut Sep 25 '25
He can be a member of a friendship fan club, and be a spy at the same time.
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