A Chinese man who attacked a Japanese mother and child with a knife and killed a Chinese woman who tried to protect them has been sentenced to death, according to the Japanese government.
A Chinese court said Zhou Jiasheng, 52, carried out the June 24 attack after losing the will to live, following the loss of his job and resulting debts.
The attack took place outside a Japanese school in China’s Suzhou province – and was one of three attacks on foreigners in China last year.
It comes as Chinese authorities have carried out several high-profile executions in recent days.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters at a news conference that the court ruled the attack was an “intentional killing” and that the punishment was imposed because of the “impact “socially significant” that the crime had caused.
However, the court made no mention of Japan during the sentencing, according to Hayashi, who added that officials from the Japanese consulate in Shanghai attended the sentencing.
Hayashi added that the crime, which killed and injured “innocent people,” including a child, was “absolutely unforgivable.”
He also paid tribute to Hu Youping, the Chinese bus driver who was killed by Zhou while trying to protect a Japanese mother and her child.
The attack, along with another stabbing that killed a Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen, southern China, last year, sparked concern among the local Japanese community.
Earlier Thursday, Mao Ning, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, briefly told a daily news conference that the case was “undergoing legal proceedings,” adding that China would “act as always to protect the safety of foreign nationals in China.
China is grappling with a surge in public violence, with many attackers believed to have been motivated by a desire to “revenge against society” – where perpetrators act on personal grievances by attacking strangers.
There were 19 attacks on pedestrians or strangers last year, a sharp increase from single-digit figures in previous years.
On Monday, a man who killed at least 35 people in a car attack believed to be the country’s deadliest attack in a decade was executed.
Last month, a man who killed eight people in a stabbing attack at his university was sentenced to death.
Additionally, in December, a man who injured 30 people by driving into a crowd of children and parents outside an elementary school received a suspended death sentence.
