Recently, foreign residents in China have often become targets of attacks. Analysts believe that behind these violent incidents lies the reflection of the current social grievances that are difficult to vent in China, as well as indicating that the anti-foreign sentiment fueled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the years has spiraled out of control.
Last week, in the New District Center Bus Station on Tayuan Road in the High-Tech Zone of Suzhou, a knife attack occurred. A Japanese woman in her thirties and her son were waiting for another child to come home from school when they were stabbed by a 52-year-old unemployed man from another province.
Suzhou, adjacent to Shanghai, is a well-known tourist destination in China, with many foreign residents living there due to its early introduction of foreign investment.
Local authorities stated that the attacker’s motive may have been “discontent with society.” Prior to this attack, a similar incident occurred in Suzhou in April this year, where a Japanese man was attacked by a stranger with a knife.
Japanese nationals are not the only foreign individuals being targeted. On June 10th, in a park in Jilin City, four American men who are teachers at Cornell College in Iowa were stabbed by someone with a knife.
Katsuji Nakazawa, a senior contributing writer for Nikkei Asia, published a commentary article on Thursday, July 4th, pointing out that under the strict control of the CCP, being anti-Japan or anti-America is one of the very few politically correct stances that can be safely expressed. An individual familiar with Chinese media informed him that for some Chinese internet personalities, being “anti-Japan” is a way to attract more followers, thereby gaining advertising and other income.
Nakazawa cited a recently widely circulated video as an example.
In the video filmed in Tokyo, a Chinese internet personality calling himself “Iron Head”, wearing sunglasses, said, “Can’t we take action against the Japanese government for discharging polluted water into the ocean?”
“No, I will show them a thing or two,” the man said.
He then, under cover of night, climbed the base of a column at the Yasukuni Shrine, urinated on the column, and used red spray paint to write the word “toilet” in English before leaving.
The Yasukuni Shrine is viewed by Chinese people as a symbol of Japan’s wartime militarism. This video was posted on the Chinese social platform “Xiaohongshu” and attracted a lot of views.
This kind of anti-foreign sentiment sometimes even harms Chinese individuals. For example, in 2022 in Suzhou, CCP police arrested a young Chinese woman on the street and took her away on suspicion of “provoking trouble” simply because she was wearing a “yukata”, which is a traditional Japanese summer garment.
Nakazawa stated that these Chinese internet personalities “do not have a firm anti-Japanese or anti-American political belief.”
“For social media stars, expressing anti-Japanese or anti-American views is a way to craft themselves as fashionable figures, attract fans, and sometimes even earn income,” he wrote, “Their messages are further amplified through user resharing.”
Nakazawa expressed that this wave of anti-Japan, anti-America sentiment is a product of incitement by the CCP authorities and can also be seen as a result of Beijing’s “wolf warrior diplomacy.”
He cited 12 years ago, during China’s massive anti-Japanese protests when Japan nationalized the Senkaku Islands, under the support of the authorities, in these protests, some called for Japan to be made a province of China and businesses owned by Japanese companies in China were vandalised.
Even though the Japanese flag on the official car of Japan’s ambassador to China was torn down, Japanese individuals living, working, or studying in China were not directly attacked.
“At that time, the number of foreign residents in China, including Americans and Japanese, was much higher than it is now,” Nakazawa wrote, “Their safety was fully guaranteed, and they lived well in China.”
“This was because a core part of the protest activity was ‘government-made’—initiated by the authorities themselves,” he wrote, “The demonstrators gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing were driven in from surrounding provinces. They received daily allowances and boxed meals.”
Twelve years have passed, but the situation has significantly changed. He believes that the current wave of anti-foreign sentiment is “a product of unstable social conditions and turbulent economic circumstances.”
Nakazawa is of the opinion that the CCP authorities are also unwilling to hurriedly control this surge of anti-foreign sentiment.
“Perhaps they know that if they were to take action to quell the out-of-control online animosity, it might backfire by causing disgruntled social media users to start venting about high unemployment rates, significant salary cuts, and other economic issues,” he wrote.