In a high-profile case that underscores the increasing restrictions on journalism in China, a Chinese journalist’s son is calling for his father’s release from a seven-year prison sentence on charges of espionage. Dong Yuyu, who was arrested in February 2022 while at lunch with a Japanese diplomat in Beijing, had been a senior editor at a state-run newspaper that had become less aligned with the Communist Party’s tightening stance.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Dong Yufu expressed his father’s plans to appeal the conviction and called on Japanese authorities to testify that the meetings with diplomats held no espionage intentions. “This is fundamentally about press freedom and human rights, rather than national security concerns,” he stated.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has yet to provide a comment on the matter. Dong Yuyu’s career includes roles as the deputy head of the commentary department at Guangming Daily, a newspaper which once projected a relatively liberal standpoint among party-run media. He advocated for constitutional democracy and political reforms in his articles—topics that were once tolerable in public discourse but have since fallen out of favor.
Dong’s professional journey included a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and academic stints in Japan before his return to China. His arrest, coming mere months before he planned to retire, sent shockwaves through the journalistic and diplomatic communities in China. It is usual for reporters to engage with diplomats for their work, yet eight such meetings were presented as evidence against him in court, as noted by his son.
In a ruling last November, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Dong to seven years imprisonment for espionage, an outcome condemned as unjust by former U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns. In prison, Dong is reportedly maintaining his health through regular exercise, although he experiences limited sunlight and has been unable to see his wife. His lawyer maintains monthly visits, bringing letters from Dong’s spouse and a 45-page appeal prepared by the journalist.
Calls for Dong’s immediate and unconditional release were echoed by the U.S. State Department last Friday. Reporters Without Borders condemned the state of press freedom in China, labeling it the “world’s largest prison for journalists,” with over 100 currently detained. The organization criticized Beijing’s recurring use of espionage charges as a means to stifle journalistic voices, alongside ambiguous charges like subversion and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
