Child dies after stabbing near Japanese school in China | Crime news

Japan condemns the “despicable act” against the 10-year-old boy who was on his way to the Japanese school in Shenzhen.

A 10-year-old boy who attended a Japanese school in the Chinese city of Shenzhen has died as a result of a stabbing by a 44-year-old man, according to officials from both countries.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said the child who was attacked about 200 meters from the gate of the Japanese school in Shenzhen on Wednesday morning died in the early hours of Thursday.

The boy's father is a Japanese citizen, while his mother is a Chinese citizen, said Lin Jian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

At a press conference on Thursday, he said the attack was an “isolated incident” and that “China and Japan are in contact on this case.”

“I take the incident extremely seriously,” Kamikawa said. “Such a thing should not happen in any country. In particular, I sincerely regret that this heinous act was committed against a child on her way to school.”

Japan has asked China for a detailed explanation of the matter, she added.

Lin had previously stated that the suspected attacker had been arrested at the scene and that investigations were ongoing.

Kamikawa also said it was “extremely regrettable” that the student died despite calls for caution and increased security measures around the anniversary of a 1931 incident that sparked war between China and Japan.

The “Mukden Incident” led to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

“China expresses its regret and sorrow that such a regrettable incident has occurred,” Lin said.

He told reporters that “similar cases could happen in any country,” adding that “China has always taken and will continue to take effective measures to ensure the safety of all foreign citizens in China.”

Previous attacks

In an email to Japanese citizens living in China, the Japanese embassy urged residents to be vigilant and take precautions, citing knife attacks in recent months.

The Japanese consulate in Guangzhou, which is responsible for Shenzhen, called for measures to prevent such incidents.

This was the second attack of this kind near a Japanese educational institution in China recently.

On June 24, a man attacked a Japanese school bus in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, killing a Chinese citizen who had tried to protect a Japanese mother and her child from the attacker.

At the beginning of June, a Chinese man stabbed four lecturers from a US university and a Chinese man who tried to intervene in a public park in Jilin in the northeast of the USA. The four lecturers from Cornell College were teaching at Beihua University. Their injuries were not life-threatening.