China on Tuesday urged Japan to conduct a thorough investigation into the knife-wielding intrusion into the Chinese embassy in Japan and prevent similar incidents from recurring.

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a regular press conference when asked to comment on reports that the Japan Self-Defense Forces officer who had forcefully entered the Chinese embassy has been sent to prosecutors by Japanese police.

On March 24, Kodai Murata, the officer, broke into the Chinese embassy with a knife.

The incident has exposed the deep and harmful influence of right-wing thinking and the distorted view of history in Japan, Mao stated.

According to media reports, Japan's National Defense Academy has an annual practice of paying group visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 convicted Class-A Japanese war criminals from World War II. In 2024, Umio Otsuka, a former senior officer of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, was appointed the chief priest of the shrine.

The Japanese Self-Defense Forces have long invited extreme anti-China right-wing figures to take part in teaching, while their training materials distort World War II history and glorify Japan's aggression, said Mao.

Murata had undergone a nine-month training program by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, during which the ideas he was exposed to and the training he received warrant close investigation and serious reflection, Mao said.

Mao warned that the international community must remain highly vigilant toward the rightward drift of Japan's Self-Defense Forces and Japan's remilitarization.

(Compiled by intern Zhou Jiayu)