Mie Prefecture considers ending foreign national hiring

Mie Prefecture is considering reinstating a rule requiring its employees to hold Japanese nationality to prevent leakage of sensitive information, prefectural officials said Wednesday. The prefectural government will make a final decision based on the results of a survey to be conducted on some 10,000 residents about the issue, among other factors. It cited China’s national intelligence law as an example of a potential risk to sensitive information, noting that the law established in 2017 obligates Chinese citizens and organizations to assist the country’s intelligence authorities. Information that could be at risk includes residents’ private data as well as trade…