Hei Seki


Hei Seki, also known as Yo Kitano for Japanese name, is a Chinese-Japanese commentator and politician, serving as a member of the House of Councillors since 2025. He is known for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party and having revisionistic remarks on the war crimes of Imperial Japan.

Career

Shi Ping was born in Chengdu, Sichuan on 30 January 1962, and his parents are university instructors. During the Cultural Revolution, his parents were sent down to a farm, while Shi was raised by his grandfather, who was a traditional Chinese medicine physician in rural Sichuan. His grandfather had secretly taught the Analects to Shi. He died from lung cancer when Shi was 11 years old.
Shi attended Peking University and studied philosophy in 1980. In 1982, he participated in the democracy movement. He went to study in Japan in 1988, and naturalized in 2007.
On 20 July 2025, Seki was elected as a member of the House of Councillors in the Japanese [House of Councillors national proportional representation block|national proportional representation block] for 47,939 votes.
On a trip to Taiwan, Seki stated that "Taiwan is the Republic of China" and that Taiwan is an independent country, not part of the [People's Republic of China].

Chinese sanctions

On 8 September 2025, the Chinese government banned Seki from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. A statement from the Ministry of [Foreign Affairs (China)|Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry] stated Seki "has long spread fallacies on issues including Taiwan, the Diaoyu Islands, history, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong".