Kodai Murata leaves the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and is transferred to the public prosecutor's office on March 26, 2026. Photo: Screenshot from media reports

Kodai Murata, a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force member, who was arrested earlier for forcibly breaking into the Chinese Embassy in Japan, was referred to prosecutors on suspicion of illegal entry on Thursday, according to Kyodo News. 

A Chinese expert said that characterizing the intrusion into an embassy protected by international law merely as "suspicion of illegal entry" makes Japan look like it's deliberately downplaying the nature of the incident to mitigate condemnation, which demonstrates that Japan fails to recognize the gravity and wrongfulness of the incident.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said it had referred the 23-year-old Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) member, identified as a second lieutenant, to prosecutors on suspicion of illegal entry after he forcibly entered the premises of the Chinese Embassy in Japan, according to a Kyodo News report on Thursday.

Murata is believed to have entered the embassy premises by climbing over a barbed-wire fence from a building adjacent to the embassy, Kyodo News reported, citing the investigative source. He sustained injuries to his hands from the barbed wire, per the report.

The police department also claimed that the suspect carried an 18-centimeter blade and was attempting to meet and ask the Chinese ambassador questions, and if he was rejected, he planned to commit suicide to create a "shock".

Murata also claimed that he wanted China to refrain from making tough statements toward Japan, according to the department.

According to the Article 130 of the Japanese Penal Code, a person who enters the property of another without justifiable reason shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than 300,000 yen ($1,881).

Liu Jiangyong, a professor at the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the Japanese side has characterized the incident as "illegal entry" into a building, a formulation that dilutes the factual nature and downplays the seriousness of the matter.

The embassy is not an ordinary building, but a diplomatic mission protected by international law, Liu noted.

As a contracting party to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Japan bears clear obligations as the receiving State: to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.

Liu said that based on the physical evidence and the motives stated in existing reports, the man's actual conduct has constituted an infringement of the rights of China's overseas missions and an act of hostility against China.

From the current approach adopted by the Japanese side, it has failed to take a correct and proper attitude to offer China a proper explanation, and instead opted to handle the matter in a low-key manner and minimize condemnation from the international community, said Liu, adding that this has once again exposed Japan's attitude of shirking its responsibilities and passing the buck.

"Have you ever seen a precedent of someone breaking into an embassy with a knife to talk to the ambassador without permission?" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian asked on Wednesday in response to a media inquiry from a reporter from Japan's Kyodo News. 

The Japanese side must conduct a full and serious investigation into the incident, Lin said.