2 Japanese Men Killed in Northern China Over Business Dispute, China Says

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Jun 4, 2025 - 10:05 Updated: Jun 4, 2025 - 09:52
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2 Japanese Men Killed in Northern China Over Business Dispute, China Says

Two Japanese nationals were killed last month in Dalian, a city in northeastern China, over a business dispute, Chinese authorities said on June 3.

Local police identified the suspect as a 42-year-old Chinese man surnamed Yuan, who has lived in Japan for a long time, according to an online statement by the Dalian Public Security Bureau. Police said that Yuan was arrested on May 24, a day after the incident occurred.

The victims, both Japanese men who were in China temporarily, were Yuan’s business partners during his time in Japan, Dalian police said. The case stemmed from “conflicts in their business cooperation,” it added.

The Chinese authorities didn’t specify the nature of the dispute or how the Japanese men were killed.

China’s foreign ministry also confirmed the case at a regular briefing on June 3, saying the incident is still under investigation.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said that on May 25, the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang received reports from local police about the two Japanese nationals’ deaths.

“In response to this incident, we are currently providing the necessary support to the victims’ families,” Iwaya told reporters on June 3.
Japan aims to “continue responding appropriately from the standpoint of protecting Japanese nationals,” he added.

Japan-China Tensions

The incident followed a spate of attacks targeting Japanese nationals living in China, which has added strains to the already tense relationship between the two neighbors.
In June 2024, a Chinese man armed with a knife attacked a Japanese mother and son while they were waiting for a school bus in the eastern city of Suzhou, leading to the death of a Chinese woman who tried to protect them from the assailant.
Three months later, on Sept. 18, a 10-year-old Japanese boy was fatally stabbed while heading to school in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. This incident occurred on the anniversary of the Mukden Incident in the 1930s when a Japanese-owned railway track exploded in northern China, which was used as a pretext by Imperial Japanese troops to start the invasion of China.
In the wake of the tragic events, Japanese diplomats urged Beijing to protect its citizens’ safety at bilateral summits last year. When China’s top diplomat Wang Yi visited Japan in March, Iwaya told Wang to “take appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security of Japanese citizens,” according to a readout of the meeting.

The Japanese embassy in China didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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