Analysis-How an executive's arrest struck a blow to Japan-China business
By Yukiko Toyoda, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Laurie Chen
TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) — If Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in a year later this week, he will likely raise the case of a detained company executive that has dealt an outsized blow to their close economic ties.
The employee of drugmaker Astellas Pharma, as well as other Japanese imprisoned or under criminal probes in China, would probably be among the topics to be discussed as plans take shape for the leaders to talk on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco, sources familiar with the planning said.
The arrest of the well-connected veteran of the Japanese community in China has had what some Tokyo officials described as a considerable chilling effect on business, contributing to a drop in foreign investment to its lowest level since at least 2014 and accelerating an exodus of expats.
«I know Japanese businesses are rethinking,» Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, told Reuters in an interview. «Right now, you can't get people to go staff the companies in China because they're scared of their own safety.»
China detained the executive, named in several media reports as Hiroshi Nishiyama, on suspicion of espionage in March, and he was formally arrested last month. Japan's then foreign minister protested the executive's detention with his Chinese counterpart on a visit to Beijing in April.
There has been no official confirmation that Kishida and Xi will hold a meeting, which some Japanese news outlets have said is being prepared for Thursday.
A spokesperson for Japan's foreign ministry said in an emailed statement that Tokyo had repeatedly urged Beijing at various levels to repatriate Japanese
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