By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-12 09:01:43 | Updated at 2024-12-12 11:32:31
2 hours ago
The Japanese government has requested that Chinese authorities step up security around schools, businesses and other locations around the country with links to Japan, fearing its citizens might become targets as China commemorates the anniversary of the Nanking massacre on Friday.
The Japanese embassy in Beijing and its consulates have formally requested increased security measures for Japanese nationals following two attacks on children this year.
On September 18, the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident, a Japanese boy was killed in a similar knife attack as he made his way to school in Shenzhen. The Mukden Incident was a false-flag attack by Japanese troops who sabotaged a railway line in northeast China. Japan used the event as a pretext for the invasion and occupation of Manchuria.
“The Japanese government is absolutely right to take these measures, as nothing is more important for an embassy than protecting its overseas nationals,” said James Brown, a professor of international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
“Given the attacks on Japanese in China already this year, it is completely understandable,” he told This Week in Asia.
