Japan’s leader demands answers from China over schoolboy’s fatal stabbing

By Nectar Gan and Junko Ogura, CNN

Hong Kong/Tokyo (CNN) — Japan’s prime minister has demanded an explanation from Beijing over the fatal stabbing of a schoolboy in the second knife attack on Japanese children in China in recent months.

The 10-year-old boy was stabbed by a man on his way to class Wednesday about 200 meters (650 feet) from the gates of the Japanese school in the southern city of Shenzhen, according to China’s foreign ministry.

The child, whose father is Japanese and mother is Chinese, was a Japanese national, according to the ministry. He was taken to a hospital and later died of his injuries, authorities said Thursday.

A 44-year-old suspect was apprehended at the scene and taken into custody, Shenzhen police said in a statement. The man was unemployed and had previously been detained twice on suspicion of damaging public telecom facilities and disrupting public order, state media in Shenzhen reported Friday, citing the police.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the attack “a despicable crime and a serious and grave matter,” and urged China to protect Japanese people in the country.

“We strongly demand that the Chinese side explain the facts of the case. As more than a day has already passed since the crime, we have instructed them to provide an explanation as soon as possible,” Kishida said.

“Such an incident must never be repeated. We strongly urged the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese people.”

At a regular news conference Thursday, China’s foreign ministry expressed “regret and heartache” over what it called an “unfortunate incident” and extended condolences to the boy’s family.

Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the ministry, said the case was being investigated and called it an “isolated incident.”

“Similar cases could happen in any country,” Lin said. “China has always taken, and will continue to take effective measures to ensure the safety of all foreign nationals in China.”

The attack took place on a sensitive date, the anniversary of the “918” incident in 1931, when Japanese soldiers blew up a Japanese-owned railway in northeast China in a pretext to capture the region.

The emotionally charged day is commemorated in China as the start of Japan’s invasion, with state media and officials urging the public to never forget the national humiliation.

Chinese authorities did not mention the motive for Wednesday’s attack. But nationalism, xenophobia and anti-Japanese sentiment are on the rise in the country, often fanned by state media.

In June, a Chinese man wounded a Japanese woman and her child in a stabbing attack in front of a school bus in Suzhou, eastern China. A Chinese bus attendant who tried to intervene later died of her injuries.

Following that attack, Japan’s foreign ministry told Japanese schools in China to review their safety measures, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters Thursday.

Ahead of the 918 anniversary, Japan asked China “to take thorough measures to ensure the safety of Japanese schools, so we are extremely disappointed that this incident occurred in this situation,” Kamikawa said.

Public attacks against foreigners had been rare in China, but a series of high-profile stabbings have raised concerns in recent months.

Two weeks before the Japanese mother and child were attacked in Suzhou, four American college instructors were stabbed by a Chinese man at a public park in Jilin in the northeast, after he bumped into one of them, according to Chinese police.

China’s foreign ministry has described both attacks as “isolated incidents” and did not release further information on the motives.

‘Extreme nationalism’

Rooted in bitter memories of Japan’s invasion and brutal occupation and fueled by present-day territorial disputes, Chinese public sentiment against Japan has flared into violence before.

In 2012, anti-Japanese protests broke out across Chinese cities over contested islands in the East China Sea. In a country where authorities rarely permit protests, the nationwide rallies seemingly went ahead with a degree of at least tacit official approval. Under the watch of police officers, angry demonstrators besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing, ransacked Japanese restaurants and smashed Japanese-made cars in numerous cities.

China’s largest cities host many Japanese businesses and people, including Shenzhen, a tech hub home to about 3,600 Japanese residents, according to Tokyo’s foreign ministry.

Some Shenzhen residents expressed shock and anger that the attack took place in a city that has long served as China’s window to the world. Some left flowers and notes of apology to the deceased child outside the gates of the Japanese school, social media posts showed on Thursday.

The recent attacks on children have also raised fresh alarm among Japanese families living in China.

In recent years, Japanese schools in China have faced growing criticism and suspicion from extreme Chinese nationalists. Some online posts have called for the schools to be shut down, while others accused them of being breeding ground for spies.

After the knife attack in Suzhou, China’s major social media platforms launched a crackdown on online hate speech targeting Japanese, removing content and shutting accounts promoting “extreme nationalism.”

But anti-Japanese sentiment has persisted. Following Wednesday’s stabbing, some nationalists accused Japan of “directing and staging” the attack, while others questioned why Japanese schools still exist in China.

As news of the attack gained traction online, censors deleted articles citing Japanese media reports, which offered more details than the terse statements from the Chinese foreign ministry and Shenzhen police.

Comments critical of Beijing’s push to promote nationalism have also been deleted.

“When will the anti-Japanese education and propaganda finally come to an end?” asked a now-deleted comment on Weibo, a microblogging site.

“If this continues, who will be willing to come (to China?)” said another deleted post.

Lin, the spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said he believed the “isolated incident” would not affect exchanges between China and Japan.

“We always welcome people from all countries, including Japan, to visit, study, do business and live in China,” he said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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