diff --git a/tests/Makefile.include b/tests/Makefile.include
index 0b277036df..eb218a9539 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/Makefile.include
@@ -669,13 +669,13 @@ tests/test-qapi-events.c tests/test-qapi-events.h \
 tests/test-qapi-introspect.c tests/test-qapi-introspect.h: \
 tests/test-qapi-gen-timestamp ;
 tests/test-qapi-gen-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/qapi-schema-test.json $(qapi-py)
-	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
+	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
 		-o tests -p "test-" $<, \
 		"GEN","$(@:%-timestamp=%)")
 	@>$@
 
 tests/qapi-schema/doc-good.test.texi: $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/doc-good.json $(qapi-py)
-	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
+	$(call quiet-command,$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/qapi-gen.py \
 		-o tests/qapi-schema -p "doc-good-" $<, \
 		"GEN","$@")
 	@mv tests/qapi-schema/doc-good-qapi-doc.texi $@
@@ -927,7 +927,7 @@ check-tests/qemu-iotests-quick.sh: tests/qemu-iotests-quick.sh qemu-img$(EXESUF)
 .PHONY: $(patsubst %, check-%, $(check-qapi-schema-y))
 $(patsubst %, check-%, $(check-qapi-schema-y)): check-%.json: $(SRC_PATH)/%.json
 	$(call quiet-command, PYTHONPATH=$(SRC_PATH)/scripts \
-		$(PYTHON) $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/test-qapi.py \
+		$(PYTHON_UTF8) $(SRC_PATH)/tests/qapi-schema/test-qapi.py \
 		$^ >$*.test.out 2>$*.test.err; \
 		echo $$? >$*.test.exit, \
 		"TEST","$*.out")