Japanese company that exported machinery capable of making bio-weapons to China sues over arrests
- Three executives of Ohkawara Kakohki Co. in Yokohama were arrested last year for exporting spray dryers which can be used to make biological agents
- This comes as Tokyo cracks down on suspicious exports of technology with potential military uses, under apparent pressure from the US
Three senior officials of Ohkawara Kakohki Co. were arrested in March and May last year on suspicion of exporting spray dryers to China without obtaining the appropriate licences. The equipment is widely used in the food industry to produce items such as instant coffee granules, but can also be modified to manufacture biological agents.
They insisted on their innocence. Two of the plaintiffs were detained until February 2021, while the third defendant is believed to have died of natural causes before the case was due to come to court in early August. His family is continuing the compensation suit on his behalf.
Prosecutors withdrew the complaint in late July, just four days ahead of the first hearing, saying “doubts have arisen as to whether they are guilty of a crime”, Kyodo News reported.
The executives have since claimed that police concealed evidence that would have exonerated them and ignored details showing the equipment sold to China did not contravene export regulations.
“There has been no apology from the investigators. I want to prove my innocence and restore the company’s reputation for the sake of the former executive who died,” company president Masaaki Okawara said in a statement after the suit was filed with the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday.
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Japanese authorities have been increasingly cracking down on suspicious exports of technology with potential military uses, with the president of Tokyo-based Tonegawa Seiko Co. referred to prosecutors in July over the export of motors that could be used to power military-grade drones.
The motors were delivered to a company with links to the Chinese military, according to the prosecutors. The company has exported an estimated 11,000 units to China, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere since 2006. A United Nations report confirmed that the company’s motors had been identified in Iranian military drones.
They added that the company had ignored requests from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to halt exports of equipment without the appropriate permits.
“The Japanese government has long been concerned about exports of sensitive technology to specific countries, but Tokyo was under more pressure after [Donald] Trump became president and he tried to stop all technology transfers involving China,” said Hiromi Murakami, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
“It appears that pressure is still in place under [President Joe] Biden, although Japan is also likely to be very keen that other governments do not obtain this sort of capability,” she said, adding that more investigations into such exports are likely in the coming months.
