Japanese student, 10, stabbed in Shenzhen, China, on anniversary of sensitive 918 Incident

SHENZHEN – A Japanese student was stabbed in Shenzhen on Sept 18, adding to a string of knife attacks in China in recent months.

A student at the Shenzhen Japanese school was stabbed on the way to school, Mr Hiroshi Moriya, Japan’s deputy chief Cabinet secretary, said at a briefing.

The student has been taken to the hospital and the condition is unknown. The suspect has been detained by the Chinese authorities, Mr Moriya said.

“To protect Japanese citizens, we requested the Chinese authorities to take preventive measures and share detailed information,” he added.

At a regular news conference in Beijing on Sept 18, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “A 10 year-old student of a Japanese school in Shenzhen was stabbed by a man about 200m from the school gate.”

The attacker was immediately detained, he said, adding that the victim had been sent to hospital and an investigation into the incident in the southern Chinese city was underway.

A police report from a district in Shenzhen that has a Japanese school said an attack on a minor took place at about 8 am. The suspected assailant was surnamed Zhong and aged 44, it said, but did not give a motive.

Neither the foreign ministry spokesperson nor the police report stated the victim’s nationality.

China will continue to take effective measures to protect the safety of foreign nationals in the country, said Mr Lin of the foreign ministry.

The attack is likely to strain relations between China and Japan and heighten concern among Japanese people in China. It took place on the 93rd anniversary of what China refers to as the 918 Incident, which led to the start of Japan’s invasion of north-east China in 1931.  

The Shenzhen incident followed another attack in June, when a

Japanese woman and her child were attacked with a knife

in the city of Suzhou.

A Chinese bus attendant was killed in that attack.

Four US college instructors

were also injured in a stabbing attack in China in June. Beijing had said it was an isolated incident and would not affect ties between the two nations. BLOOMBERG, ASIA NEWS NETWORK/THE JAPAN NEWS/REUTERS