crime

2 Japanese arrested in China alleged to have violated anti-spy laws

10 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

10 Comments
Login to comment

Wow. Back in 1986, two friends and I stupidly decided to hike around a peninsula in San'a on Hainan (which at that time had no paved roads and only one refrigerator). The east side was mostly fallen rock, but when we rounded the point to the west side, we saw sheer cliff. There was a rift in the rock which seemed to continue to the top though, so we rock climbed that (after a bit, my advice to my friends was "Don't look down!"). After some climbing, I spotted a concrete embankment which I assumed was a road, and pulling myself up, I found a half-dozen big guns on tracks withdrawn into caves. They were pointed at Vietnam.

"Uh, guys - we have a problem," I said as my exhausted friends heaved themselves up. From down a path we could hear voices, and as there was no choice of retreating, we continued - into the backyard of a military base. Soldiers were doing laundry and playing volleyball and whatnot, and one by one they spotted us, all going slack jawed until one finally gained enough wits to take us to the commander. He questioned us for an hour or so, but our youth and pathetic experience (all three of us were bleeding from one point or another due to our adventure) convinced him that we were, in fact, simply idiots, so he kicked us out the front gates.It was there we saw the sentries, concerta wire, and warning signs.

Sometimes you get lucky. In today's world, mostly you don't.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

LOL great anecdote you can treasure.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Haha, great story... All in all, this can happen in any country, and you'll be in trouble even if you had no idea what you've walked into. Point is, these two Japanese citizens had large amount of classified information in their computers, and it seems from the reporting, they shouldn't have had it.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

macv, they have since bored into that peninsula to create submarine pens.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

They were hired to assist in geological assessments, whatever that means. It is not difficult to imagine that they would have needed access to maps in order to do their jobs.....jobs which they were hired to do by Chinese companies or government, I would assume. Which leaves me wondering if the arrests were not due to overzealousness by some government functionary. Sounds like a big mixup.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Paranoid govt.

With satellites, terrain maps really can't be classified anymore. China might call things "classified" which aren't anywhere else in the world.

Don't forget that using a non-Chinese GPS device is illegal inside China. China has mandated their own GPS coordinate system, GCJ-02, be used and using any other is illegal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China

All surveying performed in China must be with a partner Chinese company with prior Chinese Govt approval. All online maps of China for use by people located in China must be stored on servers located inside Chinese borders.

I've never understood why any govt would classify things which are clearly seen on consumer maps.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Welcome to paranoid communism, komrad. I've been to China. One time.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

What is Abe govt doing ? Is a war against China coming ? What a dangerous and stupid move ? Despicable.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Lol, GyGene.

I won’t spend a nickel to go to china.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites