TOKYO: Japan’s foreign minister today expressed regret to the Chinese ambassador over Beijing’s plans to execute three more convicted Japanese drug smugglers, an official said.

The executions would follow the scheduled hanging of Mitsunobu Akano, 65, on Monday in Beijing’s first use of the death penalty against a Japanese national since the two countries normalised ties in 1972.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada called in Chinese ambassador Cheng Yonghua over the news and “there was an expression of regret” during the talks, said a foreign ministry official who declined to be named. Akano was arrested in September 2006 at an airport in the northeastern city of Dalian, reportedly attempting to smuggle 2.5 kg of narcotics out of China, state media has said.

He was sentenced to death in June 2008. Akano appealed but the sentence was upheld last year, according to the China Daily.

The other three convicts are Teruo Takeda, 67, of Nagoya city, Hironori Ukai, 48, from Gifu prefecture, and Katsuo Mori, 67, of Fukushima prefecture, all of whom were sentenced to death in 2007, Japan’s foreign ministry said. Japan itself employs the death penalty, usually in cases involving multiple homicides.

Rights group Amnesty International has called on Beijing to say publicly how many people it puts to death each year.

More people are executed in China than in the rest of the world put together, Amnesty said on Tuesday in its annual report.