On September 11, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 8th that it has imposed three sanctions against Japanese senator Ishi Ping. Veteran Japanese media figure Akihio Yaito pointed out that the CCP’s high-profile announcement of sanctions against Ishi Ping may be due to his consistent criticism of the CCP, always hitting the nail on the head and causing headaches for the CCP government.
In a Facebook post, Akihio Yaito, a Japanese media figure and executive director of the Indo-Pacific Strategic Think Tank, stated that on the 8th, the CCP Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly announced sanctions against recently elected Japanese senator Ishi Ping, including banning him and his family from entering China and freezing his assets within China. The news sparked heated discussions in Japanese society.
Born in Sichuan, China in 1962, Ishi Ping graduated from Peking University and later went to Japan for further studies. Due to his support for the 1989 pro-democracy movement, he was suppressed by the CCP authorities and was unable to return to China to visit his family. Akihio Yaito stated that Ishi Ping later acquired Japanese citizenship and became a prominent commentator and writer who criticizes the CCP’s authoritarian regime.
According to Akihio Yaito, in July of this year, Ishi Ping accepted the nomination of the political party “Japan Innovation Party” to run for and was elected as a member of the House of Councillors, becoming the first Japanese citizen of Chinese descent to serve in the Japanese parliament.
“Ishi Ping is my good friend. We have collaborated on several books together. Five years ago, our co-authored book ‘Once Thought China was the Happiest’ was translated and published in Taiwan, becoming a bestseller in Hong Kong but banned in China,” Yaito mentioned. He stated that Ishi Ping, along with Professor Haiying Yang of Shizuoka University, and himself, were often grouped together to analyze the situation in China and criticize the CCP government, earning them the nickname “Anti-Communist Three Brothers” in the Japanese media.
“Ishi Ping has long been an unwelcome figure to the Chinese government,” Akihio Yaito said, emphasizing that the CCP’s high-profile announcement of sanctions against Ishi Ping is essentially meaningless. Perhaps it’s because Ishi Ping’s criticisms always hit the mark and give the CCP government a headache, and they want to save face through imposing sanctions on him.
In a social media post, Ishi Ping expressed his surprise upon learning about the CCP’s sanctions against him from a journalist, saying, “I don’t have any assets in China, nor do I have any intention of going there. The CCP’s claim to freeze assets and refuse visas is simply a farce.” He also emphasized that being targeted for sanctions makes him feel honored, stating, “This is essentially like the CCP government awarding me a medal!”
Ishi Ping later mentioned in another post that he checked the official website of the CCP Ministry of Foreign Affairs and found that the reason for sanctions was his “long-standing dissemination of fallacies on Taiwan, Diaoyu Islands, history, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong issues, and public visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.” He added, “Isn’t this a high evaluation of my speech activities so far?”
Secretary-General of the National Security Council of the Republic of China, Joseph Wu, reposted Ishi Ping’s tweets on social media platform, responding in Japanese, stating that if the CCP government is angry with you, it means you are doing the right thing; if you are sanctioned by the CCP government, it is proof of outstanding performance. Wu also mentioned that he is also a member of the “Sanctioned Club” and welcomed Ishi Ping to join.
Akihio Yaito mentioned, “After Ishi Ping was elected as a member of parliament, he contacted me saying he will visit Taiwan in the near future. At that time, I would like to arrange a lecture for him and have him share his thoughts on being sanctioned by the CCP with his friends in Taiwan.”