Former Chinese diplomat to Japan and President of the Hubei Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Xu Yaohua, was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on February 5 on suspicion of instructing employees to defraud pandemic relief funds. It is reported that his restaurant frequently hosted visits from Chinese embassy officials and Japanese political and business figures. The police are investigating the flow of funds involved.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Department was originally known as the Special Higher Police of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which, after World War II, had a surveillance function with anti-communist and anti-riot hues guided by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. It still explicitly includes monitoring the Japanese Communist Party in its duties. The department is responsible for preventing subversion of the democratic system, intelligence gathering, monitoring of extreme leftist, leftist, extreme right-wing groups, labor unions, religious groups, and foreigners, with investigations spanning group, political, and international dimensions.
According to reports from the Nikkei, Xu Yaohua operated eight high-end Chinese restaurants in Ginza and Roppongi in Tokyo. Sources revealed that Xu Yaohua graduated from Wuhan University, worked at the Chinese Ministry of Culture, and served as a third secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Japan. After the end of his term, he briefly returned to China before coming back to Japan to start businesses including restaurants.
Information leaked by the “Secret Translation Group” on X platform suggests that Wuhan University is a prestigious university directly under the supervision of the Chinese Ministry of Education, designated as a key national university. Additionally, according to “Across Japan” reports, Xu Yaohua also held positions as the President of the Hubei Chamber of Commerce in Japan, President of the Wuhan University Alumni Association in Japan, and was awarded by the Chinese authorities as an “Outstanding Builder of Chinese Socialist Causes in Hubei Province.”
According to the restaurant’s official website, “Goshinjo,” managed by Xu Yaohua, is often frequented by not only Japanese political and business figures but also officials from the Chinese Embassy, including the Prime Minister’s visits.
Investigators revealed that Xu Yaohua allegedly instructed a male employee to falsely claim sick leave and submit a fraudulent application to the Tokyo Labor Bureau for a pandemic relief fund worth 3.75 million Japanese yen (approximately 176,000 yuan) between November 2020 and August 2022. TBS Television reported on the 6th that Xu Yaohua is suspected of having several dozen other employees also submit false applications, potentially defrauding hundreds of million Japanese yen.
On February 5, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Department arrested Xu Yaohua and his former accountant, Keita Kojima, on charges related to defrauding pandemic relief funds, and conducted a large-scale search at Xu Yaohua’s establishments in Roppongi and other locations, totaling 20 places.
Nikkei reports indicated that Xu Yaohua’s hotel website showed frequent visits from Chinese embassy officials, indicating connections with Japanese politics and business. Despite unclear backgrounds, the Public Security Department is currently working to trace the financial flows related to the fraud case.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Department is not an ordinary law enforcement agency. User “handong” on the X platform pointed out that this department “specializes in investigating and handling spy or overseas government activities. Ordinary tax evasion cases are dealt with by the National Tax Agency. Last year’s several hundred million yen pandemic subsidy fraud cases involving Chinese companies were handled by the National Tax Agency. Therefore, this case is not as simple.”
Another informed user on the X platform remarked, “Although Xu Yaohua is a former diplomat, his ‘Goshinjo’ is located opposite the Chinese Embassy in Japan, featuring ultra-high-end Chinese cuisine and often hosting pro-China parliamentarians in Japan. What is happening at this place and inside are far from just simple misappropriation of Japanese subsidies.”
On February 21, 2023, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Department also arrested two Chinese women operating a massage parlor in Tokyo on charges of defrauding pandemic subsidies. The building where the group the two belonged to, the “Toeki Kaikan,” was accused by a Spanish human rights organization of being one of the overseas police station outposts set up by the Chinese Communist Party, with the mission of monitoring the political activities of overseas Chinese. In February of the following year, the two Chinese women were formally processed for alleged fraud but were ultimately not prosecuted.
Furthermore, both women were executives of the “Japanese Fuzhou Tenyi Association Union,” with one, He Lihong (alias Wu Lixiang), serving as a foreign affairs secretary and consultant to Japanese Senator Shimpachiro Matsushita, and even holding a pass to enter the Senator’s office in the Parliament.
Nikkei reports indicated that Japan does not have laws directly preventing espionage activities, and the “Specific Secrets Protection Law” passed in December 2013 to prevent highly confidential information leaks has not been fully effective. Given the current situation, Japan is considered a “spy paradise,” prompting calls for the government to enact relevant anti-espionage laws and establish counter-espionage institutions.