BEIJING, SEPT 24 – China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart that he hoped Tokyo would deal with the fatal stabbing of a schoolboy in Shenzhen “calmly and rationally”, China’s foreign ministry said today.
After last week’s attack in the southern Chinese city, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida demanded an explanation and urged Beijing to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens.
The boy, reportedly aged 10, was stabbed on his way to a Japanese school. Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said that one of his parents was Japanese and the other Chinese.
Wang met Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa during a visit to New York. He told him that China would investigate and handle the case according to the law.
“Japan should look at this matter calmly and rationally and refrain from politicizing or escalating the issue,” Wang said, according to China’s foreign ministry.
Beijing “as always will take care of the safety of all foreigners in China”, he added.
Although it remains unclear whether the attack was politically motivated, it took place on September 18, the anniversary of the ‘Mukden Incident’ or ‘Manchuria Incident’ of 1931, known in China as a day of national humiliation.
On that day, the explosion on the railway tracks was used by Japanese soldiers as an excuse to occupy the city of Mukden – now called Shenyang – and also to attack other regions.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said that Kamikawa “strongly demanded” that China explain the relevant facts, including motives and punish the perpetrators firmly.
Kamikawa also demanded that China act specifically against “malicious and anti-Japanese posts on social media, including those related to Japanese schools, which have no basis in fact”.
“Minister Kamikawa then asked both countries as neighboring countries to work hard to improve the situation by facing the issues that are an obstacle to bilateral exchanges,” said the Japanese ministry.
Before leaving for New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Kamikawa said Japan would spend 43 million yen (US$300,000) to improve security at Japanese schools in China.
Last week, Beijing expressed ‘regret and sadness’ over what it called an isolated incident that “could happen in any country”. – AFP
