‘We’re nice people’ China says it doesn’t teach hatred of Japan after young boy killed

BEIJING (Bloomberg): China said that it doesn’t teach its people to detest Japan, comments that came after diplomats from the two nations met to discuss the stabbing death of a Japanese child.

“There is no so-called Japan-hating education in China,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Monday at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

“We advocate learning from history, not to perpetuate hatred, but to prevent the tragedy of war from happening again,” he added.

Lin’s comments underscore concern that China’s history of anti-Japan rhetoric has prompted attacks on Japanese people. Last week, a 10-year-old boy died after he was stabbed while on his way to school in the southern city of Shenzhen.

The attack came on the anniversary of the start of Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931 – a day China remembers by blaring sirens in cities across the nation.

The boy’s death is testing ties between the neighbors, which have been tense due to historical resentments, a territorial dispute and other issues including Japan releasing wastewater from a destroyed nuclear power plant.

The incident added to a series of assaults on foreigners in China in recent months, and was at least the second to target Japanese nationals. In June, a Japanese woman and her child were attacked with a knife in the eastern city of Suzhou. A Chinese bus attendant was killed in that incident.

The Japanese government formally protested the attack in Shenzhen, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed his condolences over the boy’s death and repeated the request that China provide more information. Lin avoided commenting on the attacker’s motive on Monday, saying police were still investigating.

Lin also said that Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong met visiting Japanese diplomat Yoshifumi Tsuge in Beijing on Monday, adding they exchanged views on bilateral ties.

Both sides agreed to handle the child’s killing “properly and calmly, and agreed to maintain communication to avoid occasional incidents that may affect bilateral relations,” Lin said.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.