China sanctions Japanese lawmaker Seki Hei over criticism

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HONG KONG (Reuters) -China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said it was sanctioning Japanese lawmaker Seki Hei, also known by his Chinese name Shi Ping, a China-born naturalized Japanese citizen who has been a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party.

In a statement, the ministry said that Shi Ping “has long spread fallacies on issues such as Taiwan, the Diaoyu Islands, history, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.”

It said that Shi had violated the China-Japan joint statement inked in 1972, “seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs” and damaged China’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

China will from Monday freeze any property of Shi’s in the country and prohibit any Chinese organizations and individuals from conducting related transactions, cooperation and other activities with them, the statement said.

Shi and his family will not be issued visas or be able to enter mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, it said.

He was won a seat in July in Japan’s upper house election where he ran with the Japan Innovation Party on a campaign focused on China policy, immigration and national sovereignty.

Shi did not immediately reply to a request from Reuters for a comment.

However, in a post on social media website X, Shi wrote that he had “no assets in China or any intention of going there either” and China’s sanctions were “nothing but a mere farce”.

(Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom, Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)