China demanded yesterday that Japan stop trying to "provoke incidents," after Tokyo said one of its diplomats was driven to suicide by ruthless Chinese blackmail.
"We express our indignation at the high-level Japanese official's baseless criticism of China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (
"We demand that Japan stop its repeated attempts to provoke incidents in order to harm the atmosphere of Sino-Japanese ties," the statement said.
The statement was posted shortly after Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Shinzo Abe, who is also the government's spokesman, said a suicide letter written by the then Shanghai-based diplomat outlined "blackmail activities."
"After careful investigations we found the direct cause of the suicide was ruthless blackmailing by China's agents," Abe said.
"It seems that the official ultimately decided not to yield to the blackmail even if he had to sacrifice his life," Abe said.
Japan has repeatedly alleged that China was involved in the 2004 death of the diplomat, who was allegedly wooed by a bar hostess.
The issue rose to prominence again yesterday after Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily said it had obtained a copy of the diplomat's May 5, 2004, suicide note, which said he was pressured by a Chinese agent.
The note reportedly said the agent claimed he knew all about the diplomat's job as a telegraph official and demanded that he provide the names of Chinese people whom embassy members had been meeting with.
Qin said China had repeatedly denied any association with the diplomat's suicide.
"There is no such thing as Chinese government officials coercing the man who committed suicide, and China also doesn't know what people he was in touch with prior to taking his life," Qin said.
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