Chinese authorities are investigating an attack on the car of Japanese Ambassador to China Uichiro Niwa in Beijing on Monday.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that related Chinese government agencies are seriously looking into the incident in which a man assumed to be Chinese ripped the Japanese flag off the vehicle.

The spokesman said the Chinese government protects foreign diplomatic missions and their personnel stationed in China.

No arrests have been made in the investigation. The man apparently snatched the flag before running away, and the Japanese government has strongly protested the incident to China.