Chinese authorities have revealed little about their investigation into the stabbing death of a 10-year-old Japanese boy while the Chinese media’s coverage of the attack remains practically nonexistent.

However, opinions about the Sept. 18 fatal assault in China’s Shenzhen city are rife on social media platforms in both Japan and China. And the online anger expressed has Japanese government officials worried about a deterioration in bilateral relations.

The boy was stabbed in the abdomen while he was walking to Shenzhen Japanese School with a parent. He died in a hospital the following morning.

Although a suspect has been arrested, Chinese authorities have said little about the case, including a possible motive for the attack.

Lin Jian, deputy director of the information department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, called the attack an “individual case.”

That description is considered more revealing than the words used for an incident in China’s Suzhou city in June, when a knife-wielding man attacked the bus of a Japanese school.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry described the case, in which a Chinese bus guide was killed and a Japanese woman and her child were injured, as “accidental.”

That description suggested that Japanese nationals were not specifically targeted in the attack.

The “individual case” description leaves open the possibility that the Shenzhen attack was based on victim’s nationality.

China’s major media outlets have provided little to no coverage about the case in Shenzhen.

An online article about the incident published by a leading magazine has since become inaccessible.

Chinese authorities appear more intent to control information about this attack than they were following the Suzhou incident.

One concern is that the assailant was motivated by social media posts in China that expressed anti-Japanese sentiment. Some posts have even referred to Japanese schools as “spy training organizations.”

Although an increase in Chinese visitors to Japan has helped to improve the country’s image in China in recent years, there are still places on the internet where more extreme views tend to flourish.

Following the Suzhou attack, Chinese internet companies began to regulate excessive anti-Japanese expressions, but it is unclear whether these regulations were thorough enough.

Some sources in China say that a growing sense of economic stagnation in the country has fueled an increase in violent crime as well as animosity toward foreigners.

Anxiety is again spreading within Japanese communities in China.

“There is so little information, including whether the attack targeted Japanese nationals,” a Japanese expatriate working for a Japanese company in Beijing said. “After the incident, I am hesitant to speak Japanese with my family in taxis.”

Japanese companies operating in China are scrambling to respond.

Panasonic Holdings Corp., which has a base in Shenzhen, is allowing employees assigned to China and their families to temporarily return to Japan, depending on the situation.

Other Japanese companies have started offering counseling services to hear the concerns of their employees in China.

ALARMED BY WORSENING RELATIONS

The boy was stabbed on Sept. 18, the anniversary of the 1931 Liutiaohu Incident, which led to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in northeastern China.

It is known as the “day of national humiliation” in China, and it often stirs up anti-Japanese sentiment in the country.

On Sept. 14, the Japanese Foreign Ministry asked the Chinese Foreign Ministry to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Japanese schools ahead of the anniversary.

But the attack still occurred.

“Such an incident must never happen again,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said to reporters on Sept. 19. “The Japanese government must do everything it can.”

Since the boy’s death, social media posts in Japan expressing anti-China sentiment have spread, raising concerns about a deterioration in Japan-China relations.

“We may no longer be able to live in China. The situation is that serious,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

Another senior government official expressed similar concerns and emphasized the need to avoid a political escalation.

“Japanese companies and citizens may become hesitant to engage with China,” the official said. “This is not an incident the Chinese authorities wanted either. Instead of fueling conflict between Japan and China, we should cooperate and take countermeasures.”

(This article was written by Yuriko Suzuki and Tokuhiko Saito, correspondents in Beijing, and Anri Takahashi.)