A Chinese professor, Yuan Keqin, who worked at Hokkaido University of Education in Japan, went missing after returning to China in 2019 to attend a funeral. The latest news reveals that Yuan Keqin has been sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Chinese authorities on charges of espionage.
According to the Japan News Agency, groups supporting Yuan Keqin believe that the verdict is a miscarriage of justice and have demanded that China release him immediately. Sources reported that the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court in Jilin Province issued the verdict in January this year, and Yuan Keqin has filed an appeal.
As reported by the China News Service, insiders disclosed that Yuan Keqin was arrested on charges of espionage during his temporary return to China and has now been sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Yuan Keqin went missing in May 2019 after returning to China temporarily and was later accused by the Chinese authorities in May 2021 of engaging in espionage activities under the guise of prolonged cooperation with Japanese intelligence agencies.
Subsequently, Yuan Keqin’s eldest son, Yuan Chengji, held a press conference, stating that his father is a serious and straightforward person who would not engage in any espionage activities, and appealed to the Japanese authorities for humanitarian attention. However, as a Chinese citizen, it has been challenging for Japan to intervene diplomatically in the situation.
Following Yuan Keqin’s disappearance, his colleagues and friends formed the “Save Professor Yuan Campaign” and launched a petition, rallying support for him from the university and members of parliament.
Takashi Sasaki, a professor of American diplomatic history at Rikkyo University in Japan and a member of the “Save Professor Yuan Campaign,” told the Asahi Shimbun that when Yuan Keqin was a graduate student, he opposed the Chinese government’s crackdown on students at Tiananmen Square in 1989 and even organized a demonstration in Tokyo. However, he never publicly criticized the Chinese government thereafter.
In addition to the Tiananmen Square incident, Sasaki mentioned a book written by Yuan Keqin titled “America, Japan, and China’s Peace” (2001), which discusses the post-war peace between Japan and the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the role of the United States in it. Some of the descriptions in the book may have provoked strong objections from Beijing authorities.
Public reports indicate that Yuan Keqin studied in the 1980s at Hitotsubashi University in Japan, engaged in research in Japan thereafter, and held positions as a lecturer and professor at Hokkaido University of Education starting from 1994.