In recent years, US-China relations have taken a sharp downturn, reaching a historic low. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been relying on people-to-people exchanges between the US and China to improve bilateral relations. However, the recent stabbing incident involving an American in Jilin on Monday (June 10) has cast uncertainties over such exchanges. Experts believe that this incident is a result of the CCP’s continuous incitement of nationalist sentiments and anti-foreign propaganda, which has backfired and harmed its foreign relations.
On June 10, four American teachers were stabbed in a park in Jilin City, Jilin Province, China. Cornell College in Iowa has confirmed that the four wounded individuals were teachers from the college who were in China to conduct collaborative teaching at Beihua University.
One of the victims, David Zabner, told Iowa Public Radio, “The police told us that he (the suspect) was unemployed, having a streak of bad luck, and one of us just happened to cross his path, so he decided to respond in his way.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated in a press conference on the 11th that the attack on the four foreign teachers in Jilin was an isolated incident and would not affect the normal conduct of cultural exchanges between China and the US.
Yao Yuan, a professor of international studies at the University of St. Thomas in the US, told Dajiyuan that referring to the attack as an “isolated incident” means it was random and unpredictable, but it did happen.
Some users on Zhihu expressed that this was not simply an “isolated incident,” but rather, the inevitable result of extreme, ignorant leftist media demonizing the US and hysterically being anti-American and anti-West. If the target was solely Americans, then there is a bigger problem. The extensive anti-American propaganda has led to offline violence against Americans.
An American scholar who has lived in China stated, “Over the years, the CCP’s racist remarks towards foreigners have been increasing, not only directed at Americans or national security. This is not coincidental but due to official policies.”
Former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and democracy activist, Wang Dan, stated in his self-media “Wang Dan Academy” that this incident should be considered a sudden event, something that the government cannot control or prevent, which is why the Chinese Communist Party is so nervous.
Since the 1989 Tiananmen incident, the CCP has been conducting extensive so-called “patriotic education” campaigns attributing student protests to influences from “foreign hostile forces”.
In recent years, with China’s economic decline, the CCP has been intensifying patriotic education to maintain its legitimacy, leading to a rise in nationalist sentiment. In October last year, the CCP passed the so-called “Patriotic Education Law” to cultivate more “little pinks”.
Simultaneously, through multimedia propaganda like cartoons, videos, animations, and documentaries, China’s National Security Bureau has continuously vilified foreigners, especially Americans.
On Chinese social media, discussions on “racism in the US” and attacks on “American Asians” are common. However, Shanghai Party School professor Hu Wei, publicly claiming that “the responsibility for the deterioration of US-China relations does not lie with the US,” has been denounced by online nationalists as “two-faced” and his statements deemed “outrageous”.
Under normal circumstances, treating foreigners with respect is a basic norm of international law. However, when nationalist propaganda reaches such extremes, acts of violence against Americans should not be surprising.
Lai Rongwei, Executive Director of the Taiwan Inspirational Association, told Dajiyuan that China’s patriotism has now developed into an extreme, aggressive, and xenophobic form of nationalism. Faced with unemployment and declining living standards, the general public feels helpless against the Party’s violent machinery. With the rising anti-foreign sentiment, their anger is redirected towards foreigners.
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