Overview | Japanese prominent figures describe the invasion incident as extremely malicious and demand that the Japanese government immediately apologize to China

Brought to you by: Xinhua News Agency

TOKYO, March 30 (Xinhua) — A roundup | Japan’s well-informed people say the incident at the embassy is extremely heinous in nature, calling on the Japanese government to immediately apologize to China

Xinhua reporters Chen Zeyan and Li Ziyue

On March 24, a third-class lieutenant in Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Forces, Kō Murata, brought a knife and climbed over a wall to forcibly enter the Chinese Embassy in Japan. In response, the Japanese government is currently saying only that it “deeply regrets” the incident, which has sparked dissatisfaction across all sectors. Japanese well-informed people pointed out recently that the embassy-intrusion incident involving a knife is of extremely serious nature, and urged the Japanese government to immediately apologize to the Chinese side.

Fujita Kōkei, chairman of the “Association for Inheriting and Developing the Murayama Statement,” said in an interview with Xinhua reporters that a 23-year-old self-defense officer was instilled with anti-China ideas during his education in the Self-Defense Forces, and carried out such a foolish criminal act as breaking into the Chinese Embassy in Japan—fully revealing the rightward trend within Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.

In an interview with Xinhua reporters, Tomokaji Atsushi, a professor emeritus at Yamaguchi University in Japan, said: “An active-duty Self-Defense Forces member breaking into the Chinese Embassy can only be described as a mad act. How the Japanese government, as well as the Self-Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense, will seriously handle such an extremely vile act is the key.” He said that the violent incident should absolutely not occur in diplomacy. The Japanese government should immediately apologize to China; however, the Japanese government’s current response is very disappointing.

Hakashi Shiratori, a professor at Hosei University in Japan, told Xinhua reporters that the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations clearly stipulates that the premises of a mission must not be infringed; that, without the permission of the head of the mission, officers of the receiving State may not enter the premises; that the receiving State has a special responsibility to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission from intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the mission’s peace or impairment of its dignity. This incident violates the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Japan must apologize to the Chinese side and explain how it will prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future.

Zhu Jianrong, a visiting professor at Toyo Gakuen University in Japan, in a report by The Asahi Shimbun, mentioned the 1964 incident in which Laird, then U.S. ambassador to Japan, was attacked by Japanese people. Zhu Jianrong noted that after the incident occurred, then Japan’s National Public Safety Commission chairman resigned, and then Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda provided an explanation to the American public through satellite broadcasting. By contrast, the Japanese government’s diplomatic statements this time are rather dismissive and fail to acknowledge the seriousness of the incident. The Japanese government must respond sincerely.

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