TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s top diplomat has urged China to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens after the fatal attack on a Japanese schoolboy, and demanded a crackdown on what she called “groundless, malicious and anti-Japanese” social media posts that threaten the safety of children.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa asked her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to conduct a full investigation into the stabbing and provide a clear explanation to Japan about what happened, and to punish the suspect and implement preventive measures for the future.
According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Kamikawa said Beijing should take concrete measures to ensure the safety of Japanese residents, especially children, in China. The two ministers met in New York on Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The 10-year-old boy was stabbed on September 18 near the gate of the Shenzhen Japanese School. The attacker, identified as a 44-year-old man, was arrested at the scene and is under investigation, according to Chinese authorities. No motive has been given so far.
Kamikawa said the attack came despite Tokyo’s request to Beijing to step up security for Japanese citizens and around Japanese schools ahead of Sept. 18, the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident, which China marks as the start of Japan’s invasion of Manchuria, now in northeast China.
Kamikawa also told Wang that “groundless, malicious and anti-Japanese and other social media posts, including those targeting Japanese schools, directly affect the safety of children and are absolutely unacceptable,” demanding China crack down on them thoroughly as soon as possible, according to a ministry statement.
Wang said the stabbing was an “isolated and accidental case” and that China would handle the case in accordance with the law, the ministry said. Kamikawa and Wang agreed to further cooperate to advance these issues as soon as possible.
Security concerns are growing among the Japanese business community in China.
Vice Foreign Minister Yoshifumi Tsuge visited Beijing on Monday for talks with his counterpart Sun Weidong and conveyed a similar message of concern. Tsuge later met with Japanese business representatives to get their views on the security of operations in China.
Tsuge said Japan was spending 43 million yen ($300,000) to urgently strengthen security around Japanese schools and their bus stops during commuting hours, and planned to seek additional budget to hire security guards on Japanese school buses.
Tetsuro Honma, head of Panasonic Holdings Corp.’s China subsidiary and director of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, told Tsuge that the latest stabbing, on top of a previous case in June, was extremely regrettable, according to the ministry.
Honma said ensuring the safety of employees and their families is crucial for Japanese companies operating in China.
On June 24, a stabbing attack at a Japanese school bus stop in the southeastern city of Suzhou killed a Chinese national who tried to stop the attacker and injured a Japanese mother and her child.
In early June, a Chinese man stabbed four American university professors in a public park in Jilin, in the northeast of the country, as well as a Chinese man who tried to intervene. The four Cornell College professors were teaching at Beihua University. Their injuries were not serious.
About 100,000 Japanese students, employees and others live in China.
