Japan’s Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko has asked her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to prevent further attacks on Japanese nationals in China. Kamikawa referred to the fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old boy who attended a Japanese school in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Kamikawa met with Wang at the United Nations headquarters in New York for about an hour on Monday.
She said that the incident could deal a serious blow to bilateral exchanges.
Kamikawa demanded that China swiftly investigate the case and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in the country.
She also urged Beijing to crack down on anti-Japan social media posts that could incite confrontation between Japan and China.
In response, Wang said that the knife attack was an isolated case, and that China is handling the case in accordance with the law.
The ministers agreed that the two sides will continue to discuss the matter through diplomatic channels.
Kamikawa also referred to a recent bilateral agreement that will lead to the resumption of China’s imports of Japanese seafood.
China suspended the imports following Japan’s release of treated and diluted water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean.
Kamikawa said that Japan will implement additional monitoring as soon as possible, and ensure that progress is made to pave the way for the removal of import restrictions by China.
Water used to cool molten fuel at the plant has been mixing with rain and groundwater. The accumulated water is being treated to remove most radioactive substances, but still contains tritium.
Before releasing the treated water into the ocean, the plant’s operator dilutes it to reduce tritium levels to about one-seventh of the World Health Organization’s guidance level for drinking water.
She also expressed Japan’s serious concerns over the intrusion of a Chinese military plane in Japanese airspace in August, and over a buoy China placed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Wang hailed the opportunity to meet with Kamikawa at the UN headquarters. He said it was meaningful for the two countries to advance a “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests.” He also invited her to Beijing.
The Japan-China foreign ministerial talks were the first since they met in Laos in July.