SINGAPORE: Japan says it is “closely monitoring” the case of a Tokyo-based Chinese academic who reportedly went missing last year after returning to China, in the latest of several similar incidents in recent years.
Mr Fan Yuntao, a Chinese national and a professor at Japan’s Asia University, returned to his home country in February 2023 and subsequently became uncontactable, according to Japanese media reports. He was scheduled to return to Japan by the start of the new semester in April that year but failed to do so.
Kyodo News reported citing unnamed sources that before going missing, Mr Fan told people around him that he was asked to accompany authorities for interrogation, adding that he may have been detained.
In a press conference on Monday (Apr 22), Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi acknowledged the reports on Mr Fan’s disappearance and said the government was keeping a close eye on the issue.
“This is a matter that could be related to the human rights of the professor, who has been engaging in education at a Japanese university for years,” Mr Hayashi added.
He declined to elaborate further on the matter, citing its sensitive nature, Kyodo News reported.
Mr Fan, 61, specialises in international law and political science, according to his academic profile on Asia University’s website.
In a statement on Monday, the university announced that the professor was currently on a “leave of absence” and “sincerely hopes” that he will return to work soon.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily press briefing on Monday that he “does not have information on that” when asked whether the ministry knows Mr Fan’s whereabouts.
