JUST IN: Japanse Foreign Minister Kamikawa slams schoolboy stabbing in China as “despicable”
SHENZHEN, China – A Japanese boy stabbed by a man while on his way to school in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen died of his wounds early Thursday morning, the Japanese government said.
The 10-year-old was attacked near a Japanese school Wednesday morning and had been receiving treatment at a hospital. The suspect was apprehended at the scene.
Photo shows the scene of the attack on a Japanese school pupil in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on Sept. 18, 2024. (Kyodo)
The child was stabbed in the abdomen, according to Yoshiko Kijima, Japan’s consul general in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, which also includes Shenzhen. It remains unclear whether the attacker intentionally targeted a Japanese national.
Tokyo will continue to urge Beijing to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in China, Kijima added.
Yoshiko Kijima, Japan’s consul general in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, speaks to reporters in Shenzhen in the same province in southern China on Sept. 19, 2024. (Kyodo)
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a press conference in Beijing the case is “still under investigation” and vowed China will “continue to take effective measures to protect the safety of all foreigners” in the country.
Eyewitnesses said the boy was bleeding from the stab wounds and was given a heart massage at the scene. The child’s mother was with him at the time of the attack.
In Tokyo, Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao on Wednesday and conveyed “serious concerns” over the attack.
The stabbing followed a knife attack in Suzhou near Shanghai in June, in which a Japanese mother and child were injured. A Chinese woman died while attempting to stop the assailant.
Wednesday marked the 93rd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of a railroad track near Shenyang, the start of the Manchurian Incident that led to Japan’s invasion of northeastern China in 1931.
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