A Japanese mother and her child were stabbed by a Chinese man at a school bus station in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province on Monday (June 24). The Japanese government has expressed concern over the incident.
According to a report by the Japanese newspaper “Nikkei”, a woman in her thirties and her son were waiting at the station for another child to return home from school.
The Chinese man first attacked the Japanese woman and her son with a knife at the bus station, and then boarded the school bus when it arrived at the station, assaulting a Chinese woman who worked on the bus. The Chinese woman, who was an employee of the school bus, was seriously injured while trying to stop the suspect.
The report mentioned that the Chinese female employee is still in critical condition due to the injuries sustained while stopping the suspect, while one Japanese victim is being treated with no life-threatening injuries, and another Japanese victim was discharged on the same day.
An official stated that the injuries of the two Japanese individuals are not life-threatening, but the boy suffered deep stab and slash wounds on his back.
The Chinese authorities announced on Tuesday (25th) that the suspect in the crime is a 52-year-old unemployed man from outside the city named Zhou, who has been criminally detained.
It is reported that the news of the stabbing incident involving the Japanese mother and child was only briefly available on mainland Chinese websites for 20 minutes before being censored. A video of the scene of the Japanese mother and child being stabbed in Suzhou circulated on overseas social media platforms hours later. The video shows a woman lying on the ground, with several men nearby restraining a man (the suspect).
Suzhou, adjacent to Shanghai, is home to many Japanese companies and a significant Japanese community.
The attack has raised concerns among the local Japanese community.
A resident of Suzhou told “Nikkei”, “My colleague has a child attending school, and due to this incident, he left work early.”
Schools were closed on Tuesday.
According to information shared on X by overseas social media influencer Li Muyang, a chat message from netizens revealed that the Japanese mother and child involved in the incident were from their company. One person commented that the incident was heinous and speculated that the Japanese people working in China might consider leaving, and investors seeing this situation may also contemplate departing.
Japanese nationals are worried about the prevalent anti-Japanese sentiment in China.
Renowned Japanese media figure Akihiro Yaita posted on X that two years ago, a Chinese woman wearing a yukata kimono in Suzhou’s Huaihai Street was criticized by local police for “Chinese people should not wear kimonos” and brought to the police station on charges of “provocation and troublemaking”.
“Since that ‘kimono incident’, many Japanese people have felt that anti-Japanese sentiment in China has become ‘normalized’ and that there is a unity between officials and civilians. This has made life increasingly difficult for Japanese residents in China,” he wrote.
In response to the female train attendant who intervened to stop the assailant during the attack, Japanese citizens have expressed gratitude and wished her a speedy recovery.
A Chinese netizen commented, “The employee who was seriously injured while stopping the assailant’s attack is the hero who defended the dignity of this country.”
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed regret over the attack during a regular press briefing in Tokyo, and added that the consulate had requested detailed information from the Chinese authorities.
Officials at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai stated that there is currently no indication that the suspect intentionally targeted Japanese nationals.
However, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing issued a security warning, stating that recent incidents of knife attacks have occurred in crowded places such as parks and schools in China.
In response to the attacks on Japanese nationals in China, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the incidents as “isolated cases”.
This is the second incident of a foreigner being attacked in China this month.
On June 10, four teachers from Cornell College in Iowa, USA, and a Chinese national were stabbed by a man in a park in Jilin Province, China, following a collision with one of the teachers. According to local authorities, the injured individuals were not in critical condition.