A Chinese court has sentenced a 52-year-old man to death for a knife attack in Suzhou last June that killed a bus attendant and left a Japanese mother and her child injured.
The incident, which occurred near a Japanese school, has raised fears of rising anti-Japanese sentiment in China.
The attack was carried out by Zhou, an unemployed man who, according to Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, was struggling with financial difficulties and a loss of interest in life.
The Japanese government has condemned the violence, calling it “unforgivable,” especially because a child was involved. Although a Japanese consul general attended the sentencing, Chinese officials have not provided further details on the ruling.
On June 24, the Japanese mother was at a bus stop picking up her child when the assailant launched the attack. While both the mother and child survived with non-life-threatening injuries, a Chinese bus attendant who attempted to intervene tragically died from her wounds.
This attack was the first of two incidents last year in which Japanese nationals were targeted, leading to growing concerns about the safety of Japanese citizens in China.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has not confirmed the death sentence directly but assured that the case would be handled according to Chinese law. They have also emphasised that such incidents are rare and that measures are in place to protect foreign nationals.
Knife attacks are unfortunately not uncommon in China due to strict gun control, but attacks specifically targeting Japanese citizens have raised fears about increasing anti-Japanese sentiment, often tied to historical tensions and territorial disputes between the two countries.
