A 10-year-old Japanese boy was stabbed by a 44-year-old Chinese man near his school in Shenzhen, China, and died from his injuries on Thursday morning.
Wednesday 1931 Mukden IncidentBombing attacks on Japanese-owned railways in China. Japan blamed the Chinese Nationalists for carrying out the attacks, which prompted the Imperial Japanese Army to invade and occupy the region. Modern historians believe that the Japanese military It was performed The train bombing was used as a pretext for invading China.
September 18th is National commemoration In China, this day is not a memorable one. In Japan, Anti-Japanese sentiment There have been a variety of inflammatory posts on Chinese social media over the past few months, including some by major Chinese social media influencers.
“Actually, I didn't know that September 18th was the day when the Chinese take revenge for World War II,” said the slain boy's Japanese father in despair. said On Thursday.
“I've been living here for seven years, but I didn't know that as a Japanese person I needed to be careful when living in China,” he said.
The victim was accompanied by her Chinese mother on her way to school, one of hundreds of Japanese families attending in Shenzhen. assaultThe incident, which happened less than 200 yards from the school, was brutal. Rescuers tried to save the boy's life by administering cardiac massage to him as he was bleeding from a stab wound in his abdomen.
China's foreign ministry said the boy died in hospital on Thursday morning despite Chinese doctors making “every effort to save his life.”
Little information about the attackers has been released outside of local authorities. Description He is considered “unemployed” and possibly driven by “social dissatisfaction.”
A similar attack occurred in June, when a Japanese mother and child Assaulted A Japanese woman was attacked by a bus at a bus stop in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai. A Chinese female bus driver named Hu Youping fought bravely with the knife-wielding assailant, who stabbed her to death while allowing the Japanese woman and her child to escape. Police and bus passengers then subdued the knife-wielding man.
Hu Youping's actions were hailed as a hero in both China and Japan and raised hopes that tensions between the two countries might ease, but the relief was short-lived: Beijing had to mobilize its censorship machinery to remove hundreds of hateful posts by Chinese social media users infuriated by the death of a Chinese woman defending Japanese people.
Two weeks ago, four American university lecturers and a Chinese bystander Attacked A 55-year-old man armed with a knife attacked a woman in the northeastern city of Jilin. All victims have recovered from their injuries.
The Japanese people and government are outraged by the random murder of a boy in Shenzhen, and their anger has been further fuelled by a noncommittal statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Expressed The government expressed a formal “regret and deep distress” over the boy's death and promised to “provide his family with the support they need to care for him.”
“According to the information currently available, this is an isolated case and such incidents can happen in any country,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference in Beijing.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa said She said Thursday she was “saddened” by the “despicable” attack on the boy.
Kamikawa said the Japanese government had asked Chinese authorities to “make every effort” to ensure the safety of the Japanese nationals and to provide details of how the boy was killed to the Japanese government. He said Japan had also asked China to step up security for Japanese nationals ahead of the anniversary of the Manchurian Incident.
Vice Foreign Minister Masaaki Okano summoned the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday to express “serious concern” about the attack. He called for increased security at “Japanese schools throughout China.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said He said in a statement on Thursday that the murder in Shenzhen was a “despicable crime and a serious and grave matter.”
“We strongly urge the Chinese side to explain the truth of the incident. As more than a day has already passed since the crime was committed, I have instructed them to do so as soon as possible,” he said.
Foreign Minister Kishida emphasized, “Such an incident must never happen again. We strongly urge the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens.”
Residents of Shenzhen mourned the boy's death on Thursday by placing wreaths at the gates of his school.
“As Chinese people, we oppose this kind of behavior and oppose the teachings of hate. Many of us have been subjected to these teachings of hate for a long time, which has led to such evil outcomes,” said one local man.
Other Chinese residents of Shenzhen called the attack “shameful” and condemned it as “unforgivable,” saying they worried it would have a “negative impact on future Japan-China relations.”
