A prominent Chinese journalist has been sentenced to seven years in prison for espionage in a Beijing court, according to his family.
According to reports, commentator and editor Dong Yuyu was detained by police in February 2022 while meeting with Japanese diplomats at a restaurant. Associated Press, He has been in police custody ever since.
Friday's ruling named then-Ambassador Hideo Tarumi and Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada as agents of the spy ring, Dong's family said.
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Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu stands at the gates of Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Foundation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in May 2017. (Dong Family, via AP)
Mr. Dong was the deputy editorial director of China's state-run newspaper Guangming News. He also contributed to the Chinese edition of the New York Times.
His published works include support for constitutional democracy and political reform, which was later deemed to be contrary to the positions of the Chinese Communist Party.
Throughout his decades-long journalistic career, Dong had contacts with diplomats, academics, and other journalists. I also thought of Tarumi as a friend.
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Commentator and editor Dong Yuyu was arrested by police in February 2022 while meeting with Japanese diplomats at a restaurant. (St. Petersburg)
His family said he wanted to be as open as possible when meeting with Japanese or American officials because he knew he was constantly being watched by national security.
“Yuyu's conviction makes all Chinese citizens aware of the possibility that when interacting with the Japanese embassy, or perhaps other foreign embassies and diplomats, the Chinese government considers these embassies to be 'spy organizations.' “We will know what happened,” the family said. statement. “Every sensible Chinese citizen should be appalled by this reasoning.”
Throughout his decades-long journalistic career, Dong had contacts with diplomats, academics, and other journalists. (St. Petersburg)
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US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns criticized Dong's conviction.
“It is unfair to punish Mr. Dong for exercising the freedom of speech and press, which is guaranteed to all citizens under the Chinese constitution,” Burns said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
