Overview
- China’s Foreign Ministry announced on December 15 immediate sanctions on Shigeru Iwasaki under the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law.
- The measures include an entry ban covering Hong Kong and Macau, prohibitions on exchanges and transactions with Chinese entities and individuals, and a freeze of any assets in China.
- Iwasaki led Japan’s Joint Staff from 2012 to 2014 and has served since March as a policy adviser to Taiwan’s Executive Yuan.
- Such penalties against a Japanese individual are described as highly unusual, with a recent precedent in September targeting Nippon Ishin lawmaker Shi Ping.
- Coverage notes the action follows heightened friction tied to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks, with Beijing already urging Chinese citizens to avoid travel to Japan.