J Diplomat Kills Himself Over PRC Extortion Attempt

What’s interesting to me about this Japan Times story is that the authorities of both countries appear to have had little interest in keeping matters from getting public and nasty. Espionage is a fact of international relations, but it only tends to become a matter of public acrimony in the presence of inter-governmental hostility.

Update: The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Japan has cut off new loans to China “due to strained relations.”