Itochu employee gets 3 years in prison in China for endangering national security

BEIJING- A male employee of major Japanese trading house Itochu Corp, who was detained in China in 2018 on suspicion of endangering national security, has been sentenced to three years in prison in the country, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday.

A court in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou handed down the sentence to the employee on Oct 15, according to a source close to Sino-Japanese ties.

It was not immediately known what he had done in China to be convicted of endangering the country's national security.

Motegi confirmed a news report on the worker's sentencing while speaking to reporters in Tokyo.

The Japanese man, who is in his 40s, was detained during a visit to Guangzhou in February 2018.

Since 2015, at least nine Japanese have been indicted in China for alleged involvement in spying activities. With the sentencing of the Itochu worker, all nine have had verdicts rendered against them.

trading house 商社
detain　v)留置する
suspicion　n)疑い
endanger　ｲﾝデｨﾝｼﾞｬｰ v)...を危険にさらす
sentence　v)...の刑に処する　n)判決
minister　n)大臣　
court　n)裁判所
hand down 判決を言い渡す、引き継ぐ
source　n)情報源
Sino-　サｲﾉｳ　連結）中国の（と）
Sino-Japanese 中国と日本の
tie　n)結びつき、きずな
convict　ｺﾝヴィｸﾄ　v)有罪宣告をする
confirm　v)確認する
indict　ｲﾝダｲﾄ　v)起訴する、告発する
allege　ｱレｯｼﾞv)証拠無しに言い張る
involvement　ｲﾝヴォﾙｳﾞﾒﾝﾄ　n)関与
verdict　ヴァﾃﾞｨｸﾄ　n)評決
render　レﾝﾀﾞｧ　v)断念する、放棄する

The headquarters of Japanese general trading company Itochu Corp in Tokyo | Photo: REUTERS file

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Numan
Coｍpanies and tourists should stop going to China if this farce for a justice system continues to abuse its authority.

The Chinese government won't be able to use foreigners in the media as a scapegoat to rile up nationalism in the people at a time when places like Hong Kong or Taiwan and minority groups like the Uyghurs are all calling for "Revoluton"!

farce ファ-ｽ　n)茶番
justice system　司法制度
abuse　ｱビュ-ｽﾞ　v)（権力を）乱用する
authority　ｱ ソ-ﾛﾃｨ　n)権限、権限を持つ機関
scapegoat
rile up
nationalosm
minority
Uygjurs
revoluton




Strangerland
The problem is that due to the lack of transparency of the Chinese legal system, along with the fact that the Chinese government rules over 1.3 billion people who have had no say in the matter, and combined with a lack of a free press that is allowed to operate without government approval and interference, no information to ever come from the Chinese government or media can ever be trusted.

Maybe he was a spy. Or maybe he said something bad about Mao. Or mabe a CPP member on the street bumped into him, then took offense to his existence and decided he needed to be taken care of. Or maybe any of an infinite number of other possible reasons. All we really know is that the Chinese government has destroyed its own credibility through their oppression of the people's freedoms. So whatever story they tell us is simply whatever they decided they wanted to tell us. They have no obligation to be truthful, and going on their reputation, we've seen time and time again where they've been found to be untruthful.