SHENZHEN, China/TOKYO, Sept 19 (Askume) – A child died after being stabbed at a Japanese language school in Shenzhen, China on Wednesday , authorities confirmed on Thursday, the latest death toll at a Japanese language education centre in China .
Chinese authorities said the 10-year-old boy, a Japanese citizen born to a Japanese father and Chinese mother, was on his way to school at around 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) when a 44-year-old assailant surnamed Zhong attacked him with a knife.
He died early Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters in Tokyo.
“Medical experts have made every effort to save his life, and China will provide necessary support and care to his family,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing.
He said, “Based on the information currently available, this is an isolated case and such incidents can happen in any country.”
On Thursday afternoon, people laid floral tributes at the school’s gate in Shenzhen’s affluent Shekou district, home to most of the city’s foreign community and international schools.
“As Chinese, we are against this kind of behaviour, we are against inciting hatred,” said one man, who said he was an ordinary resident of Shenzhen.
“Many of us have been influenced by this teaching of hate for so long that it has had such serious consequences,” he said.
The attack occurred on the anniversary of the events that led to the Sino-Japanese War in 1931, a sensitive day and a time when diplomatic relations risked souring.
“I actually didn’t know that Sept. 18 was the day the Chinese people avenged the events of World War II,” said a Japanese father of two in Shenzhen, who asked to be identified only by his last name, Suzuki, for security reasons.
“I’ve lived here for seven years and I didn’t know we Japanese needed to be careful when living in China.”
Kamikawa told reporters that day that Japan had asked China to explain the facts in detail and take strict security measures.
“I take this incident very seriously,” she said.
“This kind of thing should not happen in any country. I am deeply saddened by this disgusting act, especially by a child on his way to school.”
The local Japanese Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that it had asked the Japanese government to ensure the safety of citizens in the area.
It is the second such attack near a Japanese educational institution in China in recent months. In June, a man attacked a bus used by a Japanese school in the eastern city of Suzhou, killing a Chinese national who tried to protect a Japanese mother and her child from the attacker.
