China has finally executed a man responsible for the heinous fatal stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy last September 2024, the Japanese embassy in China has told the BBC.
Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for attacking the boy, who had been walking to a Japanese school in south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The case had sent shockwaves through both countries and fuelled diplomatic tensions amid allegations of it being a xenophobic attack.
"The Government of Japan considers the murder of a completely innocent child to be an unforgivable crime, and we take this execution with the utmost solemnity," the Japanese embassy said in its statement to the BBC.
"In light of this incident, the Japanese government will continue to take all possible safety measures and strongly urge the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in China."
It said that it had been informed of the execution by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The incident heightened fears among Japanese living in China and prompted Japanese companies including Toyota to ask their staff to take precautions. Others, like Panasonic, offered employees free flights home.
The verdict on Zhong's case made no mention of Japan, Japanese officials previously said. Kenji Kanasugi, Japan's ambassador to China said Zhong had requested to speak to the victim's family, but did not say if he had been targeting Japanese nationals.
The incident has also shone a light on the unchecked nationalism on Chinese social media, which has fuelled anti-foreigner sentiment in recent years.
Online commentators noted that the schoolboy's killing had happened on a politically sensitive date - 18 September, the anniversary of an incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in China in the early 1930s.