China Authorities Intimidating Dissidents in Japan: Rights Group

Tokyo, Oct. 10 (Jiji Press)--Chinese government authorities are harassing and threatening Chinese nationals in Japan who are critical of Beijing, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The international rights group said that 25 individuals living in Japan, interviewed between June and August, shared accounts of intimidation by Chinese authorities.

In one case, an individual from China's Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region who is supporting a Japanese organization dealing with human rights issues in the region was calling a family member living in China when a local police officer suddenly got on the phone and suggested that his family would be at risk, HRW said.

In another case, an individual who had planned a protest against Beijing's strict zero COVID-19 policy was pressured by the Chinese Embassy in Japan to stop via a Japanese language school he was attending.

"Chinese authorities appear to have few scruples about silencing people from China living in Japan who criticize Beijing's abuses," an HRW official said. "The Japanese government should make clear to Beijing it won't tolerate the long arm of China's transnational repression in Japan."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]