Chinese Journalist Suddenly Arrested During Meal with Japanese Diplomat... Sentenced to 7 Years for 'Espionage Charges'

Family "Fabrication of Charges"... Has Written Columns Supporting Centrist Reform

A senior journalist affiliated with a newspaper under the Chinese Communist Party was sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage charges, Japanese Kyodo News and others reported on the 29th.

Dong Wuiwi, former deputy editorial chief of Gwangmyeong Ilbo.
Photo by Yonhap News

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court announced on the same day that it sentenced Dong Yuyu (62, 董郁玉), former deputy editorial chief of the Communist Party organ Guangming Daily, to seven years in prison, according to his family who requested anonymity. On the day of the verdict, the area around the court was guarded by seven police cars and police personnel, and access to the press was blocked.

Earlier, in February 2022, Dong was arrested along with a Japanese diplomat while having lunch at the Novotel Xinqiao Hotel restaurant in Dongcheng District, Beijing.

The Japanese diplomat was released a few hours after questioning, but Dong was prosecuted by Chinese prosecutors on espionage charges and was held in Beijing prison, where he underwent a closed trial due to the nature of the espionage charges.

Graduating from Peking University Law School, he joined Guangming Daily, published by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party, in 1987 and worked as a journalist. He was arrested for participating in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and served one year of labor, after which he reportedly returned to the newspaper. Since then, he has refrained from direct criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping and has written columns advocating moderate reforms from a liberal perspective.

He later worked as a visiting researcher at Harvard University in the United States and Keio University and Hokkaido University in Japan, reportedly engaging in extensive exchanges with diplomats, journalists, and scholars from the U.S. and Japan.

Kyodo News reported that Dong was on close terms with former Japanese Ambassador to China Darumi Hideo and was even invited to his home during the 2021 Spring Festival (Chunje, Chinese New Year).

Dong’s family issued a statement saying, "Dong is neither a spy nor has he ever acted as a foreign agent," raising the possibility that the charges were fabricated. Media and civic groups also petitioned for his release, describing the former deputy editorial chief as a respected and capable journalist among his colleagues.

Barry, Asia Program Manager of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international NGO, told Reuters, "Engaging with diplomats is part of a journalist’s work," adding, "Imprisoning journalists on false and unjust charges such as espionage mocks justice."

Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, at a regular press conference on the same day, responded to a question about the Chinese court considering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ intelligence department as a spy organization in its verdict by saying, "There is nothing for the government to comment on at this stage," but countered, "Diplomatic activities at our country’s (Japan’s) overseas missions are recognized as legitimate duties of diplomats."