STORY: Japan on Thursday (September 19) requested that China give a detailed explanation after a Japanese schoolboy died following a stabbing attack near his school in China.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa confirmed in a statement that the 10-year-old died in the early hours of Thursday morning – a day after the attack in the city of Shenzhen.
Chinese authorities said the boy was stabbed on his way to school at about 8 a.m by a 44-year-old assailant surnamed Zhong.
The schoolboy was a Japanese national, like his father, while his mother is a Chinese citizen.
Kamikawa “strongly requested” that China take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals.
On Thursday afternoon, people laid wreaths at the gates of the Shenzhen school.
The attack took place on the anniversary of an incident in 1931 that triggered war between China and Japan.
It’s a sensitive date at a time when diplomatic relations are strained.
It marks the second incident of that nature near a Japanese school in China in recent months.
In June, a man attacked a bus used by a Japanese school; a Chinese national died trying to protect a Japanese mother and her child.
China offered its condolences, branding the attack an ‘isolated case’.
Source Agencies
