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The seeds of hatred sprouting in China

Published: 22 Sep. 2024, 19:53

LEE DO-SUNG
The author is a Beijing correspondent of JTBC.

“I’m so worried. I don’t know how I can raise a child in China.” A Japanese man reacted to the stabbing of a Japanese elementary school student in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on Wednesday. The 10-year-old victim died a day later while receiving treatment at a hospital. Parents were at the scene on the way to the school, but they couldn’t stop the tragedy.

The man who lived in China for four years said, “There’s no guarantee that something similar will not happen to me” and “I have no choice but to trust the Chinese government’s words to protect the safety of foreigners.” His child, who has just turned four, attends a kindergarten just a five-minute walk from home.

The arrested suspect is a 44-year-old Chinese man. The motive of the slaughter has not been made public. The Chinese authorities said they are investigating the case further.

But some say the date of the incident is intriguing. It’s the day of the Mukden Incident, which was triggered by the Japanese troops in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, 93 years ago as the first step to occupy China. Even now, China observes the day and holds memorial ceremonies in major cities. That’s why some critics say the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Chinese people may have been the catalyst for the crime.

Attacks against Japanese people in China have continued. In June, a Chinese man brandished a weapon at a Japanese mother and son in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. At the time, a Japanese school bus was attacked while taking kids home. A Chinese female attendant who tried to stop the assailant eventually died. The Japanese mother and son were also injured. That’s not all. In August last year, a stone was thrown into a Japanese school in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

In fact, Japanese people are not the only target. Crimes against foreigners continued. In March, Dutch journalists covering the protests in Sichuan Province were assaulted, followed by the stabbing of four American university lecturers in Jilin Province in June. Every time, the Chinese authorities emphasized that it was an accidental crime.

Behind such crimes against foreigners is the so-called Chinese-style patriotism, which refers to the Chinese perception of foreigners as the “enemy” who should be alienated and confronted. A case in point is the boycott of foreign companies. Such hostile attitudes towards foreigners eventually led to these violent crimes. China’s state media have belatedly started to criticize them.

The “seeds of hatred” widely spread in China are sprouting now. It’s clear what kind of fruits they will produce. The Chinese authorities cannot escape responsibility for allegedly neglecting this alarming trend. I hope they mean it when they say, “We will take effective measures to protect the safety of all foreigners.”