BEIJING — A Chinese man who attacked a Japanese mother and child with a knife and killed a Chinese woman who tried to protect them has been sentenced to death, according to the Japanese government.

A Chinese court said that Zhou Jiasheng, 52, had carried out the attack on 24 June after he lost the will to live, following the loss of his job and subsequent debts.

The attack had taken place outside a Japanese school in the Chinese province of Suzhou — and was one of three attacks on foreigners in China last year.

It comes as Chinese authorities have carried out several high-profile executions in recent days.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters at a press conference that the court ruled that the attack was an "intentional murder" and the penalty was given due to the "significant social impact" the crime had caused.

However, the court made no mention of Japan during the ruling, according to Hayashi, who added that officials from the Japanese consulate in Shanghai had attended the sentencing.

Hayashi added that the crime, which killed and injured "innocent people", including a child, was "absolutely unforgivable".

He also paid tribute to Hu Youping, the Chinese bus attendant who was killed by Zhou while trying to protect a Japanese mother and her child.

The attack, along with another stabbing that killed a Japanese school boy in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen last year, had sparked concern amongst the local Japanese community.

Earlier on Thursday, Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, briefly commented in a daily press conference that the case was "in judicial process", adding that China would "as always, act to protect the safety of foreign nationals in China."

China has been grappling with an uptick in public violence, with many attackers believed to have been spurred by a desire to "take revenge on society" - where perpetrators act on personal grievances by attacking strangers.

There were 19 attacks on pedestrians or strangers last year, a sharp increase from single digits in previous years.

On Monday, a man who killed at least 35 people in a car attack that is thought the be the country's deadliest attack in a decade was executed.

Last month, a man who killed eight people in a stabbing spree at his university was sentenced to death.

Additionally, in December, a man who injured 30 people by driving into a crowd of children and parents outside a primary school was handed a suspended death sentence. — BBC