China is trying to prevent the deadly stabbing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen from becoming a diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo, characterizing it as a lone act and downplaying the political implications.
Wednesday’s incident came amid final negotiations over the lifting of Beijing’s ban on Japanese seafood imports, which has been in place since Japan started releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in August 2023.
The stabbing is the second violent incident targeting Japanese school students in China in the span of three months. On June 24, a man attacked a Japanese school bus in the eastern city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, killing a Chinese bus attendant, who attempted to save the students, and injuring two others.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.