Death Warnings Tied to ‘Economic Invasion’ : Japan Businessmen Threatened in China

A previously unknown Chinese organization has threatened to kill two Japanese each month from mid-August if Japan does not stop “its economic invasion of China,” a Japanese Embassy spokesman said today.

The threat was contained in a letter delivered to the Beijing office of Japan Air Lines in the Jinglun Hotel on Monday and signed by an organization calling itself “Glory Through Blood Dare-to-Die Command.”

Groups of Chinese workers and students called themselves “dare-to-die” squads in early June when troops and tanks smashed through Beijing to crush demonstrations for democracy in Tian An Men Square.

In Tokyo, a JAL head office spokesman quoted the letter as describing Japanese businessmen in China as “pirates”--a reminder of the Japanese raiders along China’s coasts 600 years ago.

“Japanese pirates in collusion with the Chinese Communist Party dictatorial government are planning a large-scale economic invasion,” the letter said, quoted by the JAL spokesman.

The embassy in Beijing had warned some Japanese businessmen about the letter and contacted police and the Foreign Ministry to ask that the security of Japanese in Beijing be guaranteed, the embassy spokesman said.

He quoted the letter as saying the threat applied to Japanese businessmen, tourists and those in official delegations. Diplomats and their families, journalists, teachers and students had their safety guaranteed.