BEIJING--Already a year has passed since the arrest of a Japanese expat for spying, a charge that sent shock waves through the tight-knit business and diplomatic community here.

But still next to nothing is known about the crime the man is supposed to have committed, when he will stand trial and how he is being treated.

The Astellas Pharma Inc. employee had worked in China for around 20 years and was well-known in the Japanese community.

He was apparently arrested as he made his way to the airport to return home to Japan at the completion of his China assignment.

His detention has left deep scars here and was the catalyst for some Japanese companies to start curtailing business trips to China.

Another worrisome development came last July when China tightened its anti-spying law.

The Asahi Shimbun interviewed a range of sources to get a better picture of the circumstances surrounding the man's detention, but the nature of the “espionage charge” remains unclear.

The man’s arrest will likely to cast a shadow over the way Japanese companies conduct business in China in the future, analysts say.

The man was detained in Beijing in March 2023 and interrogated at an official facility under “residential surveillance,” and formally arrested the following October.

The Japanese government was notified on March 18 of this year that the prosecution review process had begun.

In China, arrest procedures require “evidence to prove a crime and that a sentence of imprisonment or more is expected.”

If the procedure proceeds to indictment and trial, the man can expect to remain incarcerated for a long time.

At a news conference held by the Chinese Foreign Ministry after his detention came to light, the Chinese side explained that the man was “suspected of engaging in espionage activities.” But Chinese officials did not disclose exactly what he was supposed to have done or other details.

Based on interviews with sources, The Asahi Shimbun determined that the man left by car for the airport on March 20 last year from the hotel in central Beijing where he had been staying after moving out of his home to return to Japan at the completion of his assignment in China.

From that day on, he effectively vanished. It seems likely he was detained on the way to the airport.

In summer 2016, a senior official of a Japan-China exchange organization was detained at the airport after returning from a business trip. Accused of espionage, the individual was slapped with a six-year prison term.

Why was the Astellas employee targeted and detained just as he was about to leave China?

HOW IT WORKS IN CHINA

In China, the activities of expats are closely monitored.

Residential surveillance is usually conducted at home, but there is a provision in the regulations that allows the authorities to detain and question a person in a designated facility if the individual does not have a fixed address.

In the months before the man was detained, several attempts were made by Chinese officials to find out about the Astellas employee’s personal circumstances and movements, sources said.

The Japanese Embassy in Beijing has held monthly consular visits with the man since his detention. As of the end of February, he had no major health problems.

In January, newly appointed Ambassador Kenji Kanasugi made a point of meeting with the detainee.

However, the authorities would not allow the man and visitors to talk about the content of the charges during these meetings.

Seventeen Japanese nationals have been detained on suspicion of espionage and other crimes since 2015.

China last July expanded the scope of the charge of espionage. The existing definition of “other espionage activities” is widely thought to be arbitrarily imposed.

In addition to heightened U.S.-China tensions and the aftermath of China’s “zero covid” policy, the revised law has cast a shadow over business traffic.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry published a document on its website that states “a variety of actions can be broadly considered espionage or interpreted by the authorities in an uncertain and unforeseeable way.”

Several executives of major Japanese companies expressed concern at the drop in the number of young people who want to do business in China.

Without proper networking through business contacts, commercial activity is bound to decline, they say.

The only way to do business in China is to have a deep understanding of its business practices and social system, which differ greatly from those of Japan.

Concern has also been expressed about the future of academic exchanges between the two countries.

Many Japanese scholars specializing in Chinese politics and military affairs have begun to refrain from visiting China, limiting their exchanges to online symposiums.

There is also the impact on the Chinese economy, which continues to stagnate and cannot be ignored.

Direct investment from foreign companies into China last year fell 80 percent from the previous year, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

The view in the West is that China’s paranoia is due in part to the Xi administration’s prioritization of national security.

At the National People’s Congress that wound up March 11, a spokesperson explained that the boundary between legal and illegal in the revised anti-spying law is now clear.

The Chinese government has made efforts to disseminate information on the revised law by holding explanatory meetings for Japanese, U.S., and European companies.

But these overtures have been far from sufficient in dispelling widespread concerns, given the continuing lack of clarity in the procedures for cracking down on espionage.

(This article was written by correspondents Sotaro Hata and Akihiro Nishiyama.)