By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-24 09:42:41 | Updated at 2024-09-30 11:26:07
6 days ago
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, called for Tokyo to remain “calm and rational”, following the fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen last week, adding that the attack should not be politicised.
In talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, Wang reiterated that the stabbing was an “accidental and individual” case.
“China will investigate and handle the case in accordance with the law, and will, as always, ensure the safety of all foreign nationals in China … while the Japanese side should see the case in a calm and rational manner, avoiding politicisation and amplification,” Wang said, according to China’s foreign ministry.
The attack last Wednesday, in which a boy was stabbed while on his way to his Japanese school, has widened division between the two countries, which are at odds over long-standing issues such as wartime history and territorial disputes, as well as Japan’s increasing alignment with the US.
It was the second attack against a Japanese pupil in China within three months, and has ignited a wave of anger in Japan that critics blamed on anti-Japanese sentiment in China through the education system and state-controlled media.
