China’s Repeated Detention of Japanese Citizens Raises Tensions

In the afternoon of July 15, 2016, Hideji Suzuki got out of a taxi at the Beijing airport to catch a plane back to Japan following a five-day Japan-China friendship event.  

He recalls that after he walked a few steps, five muscular men suddenly surrounded him and asked him in Chinese whether he was Mr. Suzuki. He said yes and was shoved into a white van. The men told him he was being detained on suspicion of espionage, blindfolded him and seized his phone.