In the minutes after former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot this month, there was an outburst of concern and outrage from leaders around the world.
In China, however, there was a deluge of messages on the Internet of a different kind. “I hope the shooter is okay,” said one of them. Another popular meme was, “President Kennedy visits Shinzo Abe.”
While tens of millions of Japanese waited for news of Abe’s fate, some in China called his attacker a “hero” and others sent their “warm congratulations”.
After the 67-year-old’s death was confirmed, owners of some small Chinese restaurants and car yards offered discounts to celebrate the “lucky” occasion.
The messages were insensitive and offensive to many observers, highlighting a deep tension of anti-Japanese sentiment that lingered in China for decades after the brutal invasion of Tokyo in the last century.
While Beijing’s political leaders, state media and censors appear to have intervened to moderate the response, the episode was a clear reminder of the patriotic crowds that can dominate China’s internet.
Yaqiu Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said it was “understandable” that Chinese still suffer from atrocities such as the Nanjing massacre, as well as Abe’s visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war victims. including some convicted war criminals.
But the celebration of the former prime minister’s assassination “still speaks volumes about the degree of toxicity of China’s nationalism — which the Chinese Communist Party can only blame on itself.”
“In the minds of those who celebrated his death, Abe was not a human being tragically murdered, but a symbol of ruthless Japanese imperialism,” she said.
“In the long run, inciting Chinese people to hate an external enemy serves the purpose of distracting them from examining the CCP’s own failure in running the country.”
In statements by Chinese state media on July 9, the day after the shooting, President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences and said he and Abe had “achieved an important consensus” on the relationship. And he expressed hope for “good neighborly, friendly and cooperative” ties with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
According to Henry Gao, a China expert at Singapore Management University, Beijing recognizes that citizens’ “hatred” against Japan can spiral out of control and become “dangerous.”
But Gao believes the latest outbreak of nationalism reflects the “true beliefs of many people” in China.
“Official propaganda has fueled hatred of Japan for its crimes in World War II, and the image of Japan as an enemy has gripped most people, despite the large amount of aid and investment Japan has provided to China since China’s inception. . [China’s] period of reform,” he said.
Despite Xi’s statement, the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, used the murder in the days after Abe’s death to expose flaws in Japan’s economic and political systems.
“Although Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, there are mixed opinions about him in Japan, and public opinion against Abe has always existed, including dissatisfaction with the widening gap between rich and poor caused by Abenomics, and disgust at his forced military and security policy adjustment,” the newspaper quoted Xiang Haoyu, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies as saying.
The contradictions between some of the eerie online rhetoric, Xi’s condolence message and state media revealed the delicate balance Beijing has had to strike against the backdrop of mounting pressure from the US, Japan and other allies against China.
“Beijing has an interest in keeping nationalist sentiment from spiraling out of control in a way that would undermine its foreign policy, particularly its interest in decreasing tensions with Japan,” said Jessica Brandt, a foreign policy and technology expert. at the Brookings Institution, an American think tank.
“What is interesting in this case is that at least one senior figure, [former Global Times editor] Hu Xijin, immediately came out to try and contain some of the fervor, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state media attention really played it very clearly.”
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She also pointed out that while there is “clearly” a wave of nationalist sentiment underway, it remains difficult to get a representative picture of the public mood in China just by looking at online commentary.
The legacy of conflict and atrocities continues to create deep cultural and political rifts between East Asia’s neighbors. For years, tensions have simmered not only between Japan and China, but also between Japan and South Korea and Taiwan and China, occasionally turning into political controversies and sparking protests and consumer boycotts.
China’s latest nationalist flare-up is unlikely to irreparably damage ties between Tokyo and Beijing, experts said.
But some are wary of the role such episodes could play in fueling future clashes, especially given Beijing’s increasing military assertiveness in the region and uncertainty as to whether Kishida will proceed with the revision of Japan’s pacifist constitution. an ambition Abe had long had.
“If Japan changes its peace constitution and starts to encourage militarism, then things could change,” Gao said.
Additional reporting by Arjun Neil Alim in Beijing