Tokyo has lodged protests with Beijing four times since last year over the 2004 suicide of a diplomat at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, claiming China violated an international treaty by trying to blackmail him for intelligence, government sources admitted Wednesday.
According to a report by the Yomiuri Shimbun, the diplomat, who was in charge of encryption of classified communications, left suicide notes saying he had been blackmailed by a man believed belonging to the Chinese public security agency who was seeking confidential information.
Other reports said the blackmail was linked to the victim's relationship with a hostess, and that the intelligence solicited included Tokyo-bound communications and data on Japan's encryption system, the names of the consulate's staff and of flights used to carry classified documents to Japan.