China Detains Japanese Employee From Drugmaker Astellas

The Japanese man detained earlier this month is suspected of engaging in espionage activities that violate China’s criminal and anti-espionage laws, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a Monday afternoon press briefing, at which she also confirmed reports of the detention of all five staff members of Mintz Group’s Beijing office in a raid last week on suspicion of engaging in unlawful business operations. 

Ms. Mao said there have been several similar cases involving Japanese citizens in recent years, without elaborating. 

An Astellas spokesman said one of its employees, a Japanese man in his 50s, has been taken into custody in China, but declined to provide more details. 

“We are currently gathering information through the [Japanese] foreign ministry while putting the first priority on our employee’s safety,” he said. 

Chinese officials in recent days have repeatedly assured foreign executives that the country is open and welcoming to foreign businesses and investment, part of efforts to rev up China’s slowing economy after years of stringent restrictions to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“We will do our best to create an enabling environment for foreign companies so they will invest, stay and thrive in China,” Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said on Sunday at a government-hosted conference in Beijing to an audience of foreign executives. 

Foreign companies have in recent years complained of the worsening business environment in the country, with concerns over market access, government support for the state sector, intellectual property rights and visa controls, among other issues. 

Mintz, a New York-based due-diligence company, said five Chinese nationals employed in its Beijing office were detained without notice, and that the office is now closed. 

A Mintz executive told The Wall Street Journal last week that the company had no idea who is detaining them or when they might be released and didn’t know why the raid was carried out. 

The profile pages for at least two Mintz Group managing directors disappeared from the company’s websites in recent days. Cached versions of these webpages, available on Google, showed that the biography for Jesse Si, the head of Mintz’s Beijing office, was accessible as recently as March 11, while the biography for Julie Yoon, a managing director based in Hong Kong, was accessible as recently as March 19.

Attempts to access both profiles on Mintz’s website on Monday returned a result that said “We could not locate that page.”

A representative of Mintz said the company has no further comment beyond Friday’s statement. 

—Chieko Tsuneoka, Chun Han Wong and Yoko Kubota contributed to this article.

Write to Wenxin Fan at [email protected]

The Japanese man detained earlier this month is suspected of engaging in espionage activities that violate China’s criminal and anti-espionage laws, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a Monday afternoon press briefing, at which she also confirmed reports of the detention of all five staff members of Mintz Group’s Beijing office in a raid last week on suspicion of engaging in unlawful business operations. 

Ms. Mao said there have been several similar cases involving Japanese citizens in recent years, without elaborating. 

An Astellas spokesman said one of its employees, a Japanese man in his 50s, has been taken into custody in China, but declined to provide more details. 

“We are currently gathering information through the [Japanese] foreign ministry while putting the first priority on our employee’s safety,” he said. 

Chinese officials in recent days have repeatedly assured foreign executives that the country is open and welcoming to foreign businesses and investment, part of efforts to rev up China’s slowing economy after years of stringent restrictions to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“We will do our best to create an enabling environment for foreign companies so they will invest, stay and thrive in China,” Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said on Sunday at a government-hosted conference in Beijing to an audience of foreign executives. 

Foreign companies have in recent years complained of the worsening business environment in the country, with concerns over market access, government support for the state sector, intellectual property rights and visa controls, among other issues. 

Mintz, a New York-based due-diligence company, said five Chinese nationals employed in its Beijing office were detained without notice, and that the office is now closed. 

A Mintz executive told The Wall Street Journal last week that the company had no idea who is detaining them or when they might be released and didn’t know why the raid was carried out. 

The profile pages for at least two Mintz Group managing directors disappeared from the company’s websites in recent days. Cached versions of these webpages, available on Google, showed that the biography for Jesse Si, the head of Mintz’s Beijing office, was accessible as recently as March 11, while the biography for Julie Yoon, a managing director based in Hong Kong, was accessible as recently as March 19.

Attempts to access both profiles on Mintz’s website on Monday returned a result that said “We could not locate that page.”

A representative of Mintz said the company has no further comment beyond Friday’s statement. 

—Chieko Tsuneoka, Chun Han Wong and Yoko Kubota contributed to this article.

Write to Wenxin Fan at [email protected]