BEIJING — A Chinese professor who specializes in Japanese affairs appears to have been detained by the Chinese government since late July and is being questioned about his activities in Japan, according to Chinese academics and Japanese media reports.
The apparent arrest of the professor, Zhu Jianrong, possibly on espionage charges, after he returned to Shanghai from Japan comes as relations between China and Japan have hit their lowest point in decades, and it has sent tremors of fear through the small community of Japan experts in China and other academics.
A group of Chinese scholars in Japan, the Society of Chinese Professors in Japan, said Monday that they were almost certain Mr. Zhu was being held and was “currently responding to questioning.”
The society, which Mr. Zhu helped found, described the professor as “very active” in his role as “a bridge between China and Japan.”
The Chinese government declined to confirm the arrest but strongly hinted that he had been taken into custody.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said: “Zhu Jianrong is a Chinese citizen. China is a country ruled by law, and will protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens. While at the same time, all Chinese citizens should abide by the law.”
There were some suggestions that Mr. Zhu met with Chinese military officials this year, and that the Chinese authorities were suspicious of these contacts and his subsequent use of the information.
The Japan Times wrote in a Sept. 29 editorial that China was looking into these meetings and whether they constituted illegal collection of information.
A professor of international relations in Beijing, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the case, said he believed Mr. Zhu had been detained on charges of espionage based on his interviews with Chinese military officials.
The case of Mr. Zhu, who often appeared on Japanese television discussing the soured relations between China and Japan, follows a pattern.
In 2009, a former deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jin Xide, was imprisoned for 14 years on charges of selling Chinese state secrets to Japan and South Korea, according to the Japan Times.
The newspaper also reported that Su Ling, chief editor of Xinhua Shibao, a Chinese-language newspaper published in Japan, has been missing since he came to Beijing from Japan in May.
The disappearance of Mr. Zhu would further fracture the “quasi cold war relationship” between China and Japan, setting off fears among Chinese academics and visitors to Japan that they could be susceptible to similar treatment, said Willy Lam, adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Center for Chinese Studies.
“These folks are not famous people,” said Mr. Lam, who has worked in Japan.
The Chinese government declined to confirm the arrest but strongly hinted that he had been taken into custody.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said: “Zhu Jianrong is a Chinese citizen. China is a country ruled by law, and will protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens. While at the same time, all Chinese citizens should abide by the law.”
There were some suggestions that Mr. Zhu met with Chinese military officials this year, and that the Chinese authorities were suspicious of these contacts and his subsequent use of the information.
The Japan Times wrote in a Sept. 29 editorial that China was looking into these meetings and whether they constituted illegal collection of information.
A professor of international relations in Beijing, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the case, said he believed Mr. Zhu had been detained on charges of espionage based on his interviews with Chinese military officials.
The case of Mr. Zhu, who often appeared on Japanese television discussing the soured relations between China and Japan, follows a pattern.
In 2009, a former deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jin Xide, was imprisoned for 14 years on charges of selling Chinese state secrets to Japan and South Korea, according to the Japan Times.
The newspaper also reported that Su Ling, chief editor of Xinhua Shibao, a Chinese-language newspaper published in Japan, has been missing since he came to Beijing from Japan in May.
The disappearance of Mr. Zhu would further fracture the “quasi cold war relationship” between China and Japan, setting off fears among Chinese academics and visitors to Japan that they could be susceptible to similar treatment, said Willy Lam, adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Center for Chinese Studies.
“These folks are not famous people,” said Mr. Lam, who has worked in Japan.
“Inevitably it will affect people-to-people exchanges, popular diplomacy and people-level diplomacy between the two countries.”
A scholar on the diplomacy between China and Japan, Mr. Zhu often appeared on Japanese television publicly presenting China’s position on the issues that divided the two countries, academics in both countries said.
In those appearances, Mr. Zhu was quite resolute in defending China’s case on the bitter dispute over Japan's Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.
That dispute involves daily close-in patrols by naval vessels of China and Japan, and air sorties sent by both sides.
A scholar on the diplomacy between China and Japan, Mr. Zhu often appeared on Japanese television publicly presenting China’s position on the issues that divided the two countries, academics in both countries said.
In those appearances, Mr. Zhu was quite resolute in defending China’s case on the bitter dispute over Japan's Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.
That dispute involves daily close-in patrols by naval vessels of China and Japan, and air sorties sent by both sides.
China most recently was reported to have sent a drone over the area.
In his television arguments, Mr. Zhu did not appear to be deferential to the Japanese point of view, said a Japanese academic who declined to be named.
Mr. Zhu married a Japanese researcher in the 1980s, and moved to Japan in 1986, where he worked at the Toyo Gakuen University, not far from Tokyo.
The Society of Chinese Professors expressed concern for Mr. Zhu, saying it hoped he would “return to normal life as soon as possible.”
In his television arguments, Mr. Zhu did not appear to be deferential to the Japanese point of view, said a Japanese academic who declined to be named.
Mr. Zhu married a Japanese researcher in the 1980s, and moved to Japan in 1986, where he worked at the Toyo Gakuen University, not far from Tokyo.
The Society of Chinese Professors expressed concern for Mr. Zhu, saying it hoped he would “return to normal life as soon as possible.”
The group praised him for trying to improve the relationship between the two countries.
Mr. Zhu was chairman of the group for nine years
The case has frightened the Chinese academic community in Japan.
The case has frightened the Chinese academic community in Japan.
A member of the group, when contacted by telephone, said in worried tones that it was impossible to talk about the matter.
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