National Press Club: Family Statement On Verdict in Case of Chinese Journalist Dong Yuyu

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club is releasing the following statement from the family of journalist Dong Yuyu.

Family Statement on Dong Yuyu's Verdict and Sentencing

29 November 2024

(Issued by the Dong Family)

Today's verdict is a grave injustice not only to Yuyu and his family but also to every freethinking Chinese journalist and every ordinary Chinese committed to friendly engagement with the world.

Sentencing Yuyu to seven years in prison on no evidence declares to the world the bankruptcy of the justice system in China. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court convicted Yuyu of espionage, a crime that requires that the prosecution prove that the defendant knowingly acted on behalf of "espionage organizations" and their agents.

According to the judgment, which was read in court but not shared with Yuyu's lawyers or family, the Japanese diplomats he met with, including then-ambassador Hideo Tarumi and current Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada, were specifically named as agents of an "espionage organization," which is the Japanese embassy in Beijing.

We are shocked that the Chinese authorities would blatantly deem a foreign embassy as an "espionage organization" and accuse the former Japanese ambassador and his fellow diplomats of being spies.

Given this reasoning by the court, we simply want to ask on behalf of all Chinese people: Didn't the Chinese authorities have to approve of the ambassadorship of Mr. Tarumi? Why did China not expel all Japanese diplomats, including Mr. Tarumi and everyone else named in the judgment, in 2022 for spying on our country?

With Yuyu's conviction, every Chinese citizen, when dealing with the Japanese embassy—or perhaps any other foreign embassy and diplomat—will be expected to know that the Chinese government may consider those embassies to be "espionage organizations." Chinese citizens should also know that foreign diplomats are potentially agents of "espionage organizations" under the meaning of Chinese law.

Every sensible Chinese citizen should be appalled by this reasoning. So should every foreigner who wishes to meaningfully engage with China and its people.

Yuyu has known numerous Japanese and American journalists, scholars, and diplomats for more than two decades. He is always transparent about his exchanges with foreign contacts and has long served as a bridge of understanding between China and the China-based diplomatic and journalistic communities from Japan and the United States.

Yuyu is being persecuted for the independence he has demonstrated during a lifetime spent as a journalist. Even before his detention, Yuyu had faced tremendous pressure numerous times for the words he published, and we believe the charges against him were an excuse for inflicting more pain and punishment.

Yuyu is also being targeted for his principled engagement with the outside world. His fellowships at Japanese and American universities, including the prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, were under intense scrutiny by Chinese authorities. These authorities suggested that foreign governments were paying Yuyu for his service by awarding him these fellowships. Chinese Internet trolls pointed to the Nieman fellowship as evidence that Yuyu was an American spy. Some even provided a list of all previous Nieman Fellows from China and called on the authorities to arrest them all.

These charges are patently absurd. But the accusations, along with today's outrageous verdict, put tens of thousands of Chinese scholars and professionals who have been on exchanges abroad in danger. Any such fellowship could now be considered by Chinese courts to be a pay-off by a foreign actor. It could be used as evidence of a serious national security crime.

Yuyu's yearslong detention has already had a chilling effect on Sino-Japanese ties, and his verdict today could irrevocably damage relations at the highest level.

Yuyu's conviction effectively marks the end of "people-to-people diplomacy," a method of engagement the Chinese authorities have always claimed to champion.

As last year's open letter by dozens of prominent academics and journalists calling for Yuyu's release asked: "Who would want to come to China to meet Chinese journalists, academics, or diplomats if these meetings could be used as evidence that the Chinese side is committing espionage?"

"No one" is the answer the Chinese authorities provided definitively today.

To those who have asked and cared about Yuyu in the past several years, we are eternally grateful. Your help and support has been of immeasurable value in this extremely difficult time. Like most of you, we have not been able to see Yuyu in person and have only been able to get updates from his lawyers, Mr. Mo Shaoping and Mr. Shang Baojun, to whom we also owe a debt of gratitude.

Through these lawyers, who've visited him once a month, Yuyu has reported that he has been consistently doing 200 pushups and 200 leg raises a day and has maintained his high spirits. He is aware of the tremendous support he has received from throughout the world. He is extremely grateful.

Even though today's verdict does nothing to tarnish Yuyu's reputation internationally among those who know the value of his work, the propaganda within China will undoubtedly mislead his own fellow citizens, for whom Yuyu has advocated his entire career. Yuyu will now be known as a traitor in his own country, instead of being recognized as someone who always fought for a better Chinese society. This baseless assault on Yuyu's love for his country is unacceptable, and we will support Yuyu's upcoming appeal of his conviction.

Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 or [email protected]

SOURCE National Press Club