A 10-year-old Japanese student has died one day after he was stabbed near his school in southern China.
The boy, who was enrolled at the Shenzhen Japanese School, succumbed to his injuries early on Thursday, Japanese officials said.
His assailant, a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong, was arrested on the spot, local police said.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called the attack “extremely despicable” and said Tokyo had “strongly urged” Beijing for an explanation “as soon as possible”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the case was being investigated and that China and Japan were “in communication”.
“China expresses its regret and sadness that this kind of unfortunate incident occurred,” he told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.
Mr Lin also confirmed that the boy was a Japanese national with a Japanese father and a Chinese mother.
The motive for the attack was not immediately known. But some observers have expressed concern that nationalist sentiment in China might be spilling into increasing violence against foreigners.
In June, a man targeted a Japanese mother and her child in the eastern city of Suzhou. That attack was also near a Japanese school and led to the death of a Chinese national who had tried to protect the mother and son.
Earlier in June, four American teachers were stabbed in the northern city of Jilin.
Beijing has described all of these attacks – including the one on Wednesday – as “isolated incidents”. And on Wednesday, Mr Lin said China would continue “to protect the safety of all foreigners in the country”.
The Japanese embassy in Beijing called on the Chinese government to “prevent such incidents from happening again”.
Some have pointed out that the stabbing happened on the anniversary of the notorious Mukden Incident, when Japan faked an explosion to justify its invasion of Manchuria in 1931, triggering a 14-year war with China.
Ties between the two countries have long been acrimonious. For decades the two sides have clashed on a number of issues, ranging from historical grievances to territorial disputes.
A former Japanese diplomat said Wednesday’s attack in Shenzhen was the “result of long years of anti-Japan education” in Chinese schools.
“This has cost the precious life of a Japanese child,” Shingo Yamagami, Japan’s former ambassador to Australia, wrote on X.
Some Japanese schools in China have contacted parents, putting them on high alert in the wake of the stabbing.
The Guangzhou Japanese School cancelled some activities and warned against speaking Japanese loudly in public.
Earlier this year, the Japanese government requested about $2.5m (£1.9m) to hire security guards for school buses in China.
