In a Thursday press briefing, China’s top diplomat in Japan, Shi Yong, revealed a disturbing sequence of criminal acts targeting the Chinese Embassy—including a break-in by an active-duty soldier and a bomb threat that forced a two-hour lockdown.
According to Shi, the first crime occurred on March 5, when a group claiming to include former police and Self-Defense Forces (SDF) personnel mailed a threat letter vowing direct attacks on Chinese diplomatic missions.
But the most brazen breach happened 19 days later. On March 24, Kodai Murata, when an active-duty SDF member scaled the embassy wall armed with a knife. He successfully entered the compound before being stopped.
Just one week after that invasion, on March 31, a second suspect—claiming to be a reserve SDF member—sent an online threat stating he had planted a remote-controlled bomb inside the Chinese Embassy. Japanese police responded with a nearly two-hour bomb disposal operation.
The Chinese Embassy condemned the three incidents as grave violations of international law, calling the attacks an assault on China’s sovereignty and the safety of its personnel. Shi also criticized Japanese police for failing to take the initial threats seriously and for not identifying those responsible.
