On March 24, Murata Akihiro, an active officer of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, broke into the Chinese Embassy in Japan armed with a knife. On July 27, he was indicted by Japanese prosecutors on charges of unlawful entry into a building and threatening embassy staff. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Japan urged the Japanese side to thoroughly investigate the incident as soon as possible and severely punish those involved.
According to China News Service, when responding to reporters' questions, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Japan stated that an active Japanese Self-Defense Forces officer broke into the Chinese Embassy armed with a knife and issued violent threats to Chinese personnel, which seriously violated the "Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," seriously infringed on China's sovereignty and dignity, and seriously threatened the personal safety of Chinese diplomatic personnel and the security of diplomatic facilities. The nature and impact of this incident are extremely egregious. The facts of the case are clear and the evidence is conclusive.
The spokesperson pointed out that this incident fully exposes the rampant nature of extreme right-wing ideology and forces within Japan, the lack of discipline and supervision over Self-Defense Forces personnel, and also reveals the malign influence of the Japanese government's erroneous policies on major core issues related to China-Japan relations such as history and Taiwan, which have become the social soil for the emergence of "new militarism" as a threat.
It was pointed out that the Chinese Embassy strongly urges the Japanese side to earnestly fulfill its responsibilities, thoroughly investigate the incident, get to the root causes, severely punish those involved, prevent the recurrence of such incidents, and provide a responsible explanation to China and the international community.