China has reportedly executed a man convicted of killing a Chinese woman and injuring two Japanese nationals in a knife attack at a school bus stop near Shanghai last year.
Zhou Jiasheng, a 52-year-old man, allegedly struggling with heavy debt and despair, targeted the Japanese mother and her son as they waited for the school bus near the Japanese School of Suzhou in Jiangsu province on 24 June 2024.
The mother and son sustained minor injuries, but the bus attendant, Hu Youping, 54, who stepped in to protect them, succumbed to her stabbing injuries a few days after the incident. Zhou, who said he went on a stabbing spree because he “didn’t want to live anymore”, was sentenced to death in January.
The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday told the Japanese embassy in Beijing that the accused had been executed, without sharing further details.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hayashi Yoshimasa, said the government solemnly noted the execution of the Chinese national. He said the incident was “totally unforgivable”, according to NHK World.
Mr Hayashi added that Japan will continue to take steps to protect Japanese people living in China, and “we will continue to strongly ask China to ensure the safety of Japanese people in China”.
The case was one of two knife attacks targeting Japanese nationals in China last year. In September, a 10-year-old Japanese student was fatally stabbed near his school in Shenzhen. The trial of the alleged perpetrator in that case has only just begun.
The incidents heightened fears of growing anti-Japanese sentiment in China. Following the Suzhou attack, Japanese officials had urged Beijing to ensure the safety of its citizens.
The Chinese government described the incidents as isolated, while technology companies, including Tencent and NetEase, vowed to curb online hate speech to prevent further violence.
The incident in Suzhou also drew attention to a wider problem of the rise in violent attacks across China.
In January, China executed two men who had carried out deadly attacks in November that killed dozens, in what are known as “revenge-on-society” crimes. Chinese authorities executed Fan Weiqu, a 62-year-old man who rammed his car into a crowd outside a sports stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35 people. Xu Jiajin, 21, was executed for killing eight people and injuring 17 in a stabbing attack at his vocational school in the eastern city of Wuxi.
