Some Japanese companies in China have offered to repatriate their staff and their families after a 10-year-old boy was fatally stabbed in Shenzhen.
A Japanese executive and employees of Japanese firms in Beijing said that a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong stabbed the boy on his way to school on Wednesday.
Boy Dies After Being Stabbed
The boy was a Japanese national born to a Japanese father and a Chinese mother.
He died the following day.
Envoy Asks Beijing to step up security measures
Japan’s Ambassador to Beijing Kenji Kanasugi also spoke to China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong and asked Beijing to step up security measures.
The stabbing incident was the second such attack near Japanese schools in China in recent months.
Notably, the incident took place on the anniversary of an incident in 1931 that triggered war between China and Japan.
The Japanese embassy said in a statement that it took up the matter with the Japanese chamber of commerce and the Beijing Japanese School on Thursday.
Safety Of Japanese Community In China
Japan has urged the Chinese government to do its utmost to ensure the safety of its nationals there.
The Japanese embassy said that it has also asked the Chinese government to provide details on the incident.
Relocation Option
The embassy did not mention anything about relocation.
The Beijing-based executive from Japan however said some companies were offering the option to their employees.
Employees at four Japanese firms said some big firms in China have given its employees and their families the option to be relocated.
They said that the companies would take care of the relocation expenses.
The executive and the employees declined to give any further details.
School Targeted
“It is a really heavy shock,” the executive told Reuters.
“And this is another instance where a Japanese school was targeted.”
“As for the temporary leaving, yes, that is true, and many companies of Japan will do so,” he said.
“We need to know why this happened again… otherwise, we can’t live and work here.”
China Offered Condolences To The Victim’s Family
China’s foreign ministry on Thursday expressed its condolences to the victim’s family, and called the crime “an individual case”.
Chinese media reported on Friday that the assailant has confessed to attacking the boy.
He was arrested in 2015 on the charge of destroying public telecom facilities.
(With Inputs From Reuters)
