Tokyo demands answers in murder of Japanese boy in China

Beijing responded by offering condolences over the killing, calling it an isolated incident that “could happen in any country.”

Although the attacker’s motives remain unclear, Japanese officials have called for increased security around Japanese schools in China.

“For now, we will firmly urge China to provide an explanation of the facts surrounding what happened. Since more than a day has passed since the incident, we expect it to provide an explanation as soon as possible,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, calling the attack “extremely despicable.”

“This type of incident must not be repeated. We will firmly urge China to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and prevent any recurrence while doing everything possible as a government,” Kishida told reporters.

Shenzhen police said a man attacked a minor on Wednesday morning, and the child was taken to hospital. The suspect, a 44-year-old man, has been detained, they said.

Japanese media reported that the boy was a 10-year-old Japanese citizen living in a southern Chinese city. He was attacked near a Japanese school.

Beijing on Thursday expressed “mourning and sadness” over the “unfortunate incident.”

“We mourn the boy’s death and express our condolences to his family,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular news conference.

When asked if the incident was isolated, Lin replied that “to our current knowledge, this is an isolated incident.”

“Similar cases can happen in any country,” he told reporters.

On Wednesday evening, before the boy’s death, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned the Chinese ambassador to Japan, Wu Jianghao, to convey his “serious concern” over the attack.

Okano “strongly urged the strengthening of security, including around Japanese schools in China,” the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement.

In June, a Japanese mother and child were injured in another stabbing in Suzhou, near Shanghai, in what China’s foreign ministry called an “isolated incident” at the time.

A 55-year-old Chinese woman was killed trying to stop her attacker. After her death, the local government honored her for her actions.

It is unclear whether the latest incident was politically motivated.

It was the anniversary of the 1931 “Mukden Incident,” also known as the “Manchurian Incident” in the run-up to World War II. In China, it is celebrated as a day of national humiliation.

The railway explosion became a pretext for Japanese troops to capture the city of Mukden, now called Shenyang, and invade the rest of Manchuria.

China’s Foreign Ministry also had no comment when asked at a regular briefing about the significance of the date, which was marked Wednesday with air raid sirens in several cities, according to state media.

Relations between the countries have deteriorated in recent years as China has taken a more assertive stance on territorial disputes in the region and Japan has strengthened security ties with the United States and its allies.

China banned imports of Japanese seafood last year after Japan began releasing treated sewage from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

After the liberation began, bricks and eggs were thrown at Japanese schools and consulates. Businesses in Japan were also inundated with nuisance calls from Chinese numbers.

A Chinese aircraft carrier sailed between two Japanese islands near Taiwan this week, the first such incursion into Japanese territorial waters, which lie 24 nautical miles from the country’s coast.

Government spokesman Hiroshi Moriya called the incident “completely unacceptable from the point of view of the security of Japan and the region.”

“We have expressed our serious concerns to the Chinese side through diplomatic channels,” he said.

China said the overflight, which came less than a month after the first confirmed violation of Japanese airspace by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft, was in accordance with international law.