China's Astellas arrest seen fueling retreat by foreign companies

Businesses rethink investment amid lack of clarity over broadening crackdown

20231019N China police

China has been clamping down harder on foreign companies over alleged spying. © Reuters

Nikkei staff writers

BEIJING -- The arrest of a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma on espionage charges Thursday is expected to accelerate the trend of foreign companies scaling back their China operations amid uncertainty about where the legal lines lie.

The news dismayed top representatives from Japanese businesses at the Tokyo-Beijing Forum, an event in Beijing where experts from both countries discuss political and economic topics.

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