A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu to seven years in prison on espionage charges, his family announced on Friday.
Dong, a senior columnist for the Communist Party newspaper Guangming Daily, was detained in February 2022 alongside a Japanese diplomat at a restaurant in Beijing. While the diplomat was released after a few hours of questioning, Dong, 62, remained in custody and was charged with spying last year.
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court convicted Dong of espionage, a crime requiring proof that the defendant knowingly acted on behalf of “espionage organizations” or their agents, according to a statement from his family shared with AFP.
The court identified Japanese diplomats Dong had met with, including then-ambassador Hideo Tarumi and current Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada, as agents of an “espionage organization,” the statement said. “We are shocked that the Chinese authorities would blatantly deem a foreign embassy as an ‘espionage organization’ and accuse the former Japanese ambassador and his fellow diplomats of being spies,” the family added.
Responding to questions about Dong’s case, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday, “China is a country ruled by law. Chinese judicial authorities strictly handle cases in accordance with the law, and those who violate the law and commit crimes will be investigated according to the law.”
The Japanese embassy declined to comment directly on the case but stated, “In any case, the diplomatic activities of Japanese diplomatic missions abroad are carried out in a legitimate manner.”
Under Chinese law, espionage convictions can result in sentences ranging from three to 10 years for less severe cases, or life imprisonment for more serious offenses.
Dong’s writings have appeared in the Chinese editions of The New York Times and The Financial Times. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2006-2007, a visiting fellow at Japan’s Keio University in 2010, and a visiting professor at Hokkaido University in 2014.
Civil liberties and freedom of expression in China have significantly eroded during President Xi Jinping’s decade-long rule. The Communist Party tightly controls domestic media, and Chinese nationals who collaborate with foreign outlets often face harassment.
China remains the world’s leading jailer of journalists, with 44 media workers imprisoned as of December 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In a separate case earlier this year, a Beijing court handed a suspended death sentence to Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun after convicting him of espionage.
