What's happened
A 10-year-old Japanese boy was fatally stabbed near the Shenzhen Japanese School on September 18, 2024. The attack occurred on a historically sensitive date, prompting Japan to demand enhanced safety measures for its nationals in China. The suspect, a 44-year-old man, was arrested at the scene.
Why it matters
What the papers say
According to The Guardian, Japan's Foreign Minister described the attack as 'despicable' and emphasized the need for Chinese authorities to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals. The Japan Times reported that the boy's father is Japanese and his mother is Chinese, highlighting the personal stakes involved in this incident. Al Jazeera noted that the Chinese Foreign Ministry characterized the attack as an 'individual case' while acknowledging the ongoing communication between the two nations. The Independent pointed out that this incident follows a similar attack in Suzhou, raising alarms about the safety of Japanese expatriates in China. The South China Morning Post echoed these sentiments, expressing deep sadness over the incident and urging the Chinese government to take preventive measures.
How we got here
The stabbing incident coincided with the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden Incident, a pivotal event in Sino-Japanese relations. Recent months have seen rising anti-Japanese sentiment in China, raising concerns about the safety of Japanese nationals.
More on these topics
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Japan is an island country of East Asia in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It borders the Sea of Japan to the west and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.
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Shenzhen is a major sub-provincial city on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.
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China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.4 billion in 2019.
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The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident, was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
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Suzhou, alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city located in southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China, about 100 km northwest of Shanghai.