Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is seen on Aug. 6, 2021, at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. (Pool photo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Thursday expressed concern to his Canadian counterpart Marc Garneau about a Chinese court decision to imprison a Canadian businessman for espionage.

       "I will follow the development of the case with great concern," Motegi told Garneau in their telephone talks, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

       The Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced the businessman, Michael Spavor, to 11 years in prison.

       He had been detained along with a former Canadian diplomat after Canadian authorities arrested a top official of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. in Vancouver in December 2018 as requested by the United States over fraud charges linked to an alleged breach of sanctions on Iran.

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