Japan urged to severely punish perpetrator of Chinese embassy break-in

BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- China once again urges the Japanese side to impose severe punishment on the perpetrator who broke into the Chinese Embassy in Japan with a knife to serve as a warning to others, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday. Mao made the remarks at a regular media briefing while answering a question regarding the first court hearing in the trial of Kodai Murata, a former Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) officer accused of forcibly entering the Chinese Embassy in Japan. It is an egregious incident unprecedented in the international community that an active-duty officer of Japan's SDF broke into the Chinese Embassy in Japan with a knife and made violent threats against Chinese diplomatic personnel, Mao said. She said it constitutes a serious violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, poses grave threats to the personal safety of Chinese diplomatic staff and the security of the diplomatic premises, and lays bare a host of deep-seated problems in Japan, including rampant right-wing forces and inadequate management and discipline of SDF personnel. "Whether Japan can handle the case seriously in accordance with law will test whether the Japanese government earnestly fulfills its obligations under international law, and bears on the country's national credibility and international image," Mao said.