Xi Jinping's nationalism faces reckoning after murder of Japanese boy

President Xi Jinping has announced an increase in Chinese nationalism to boost his government's popularity as tensions with rivals escalated. Now the murder of a Japanese boy reveals the dangers of this tactic.
Chinese authorities declined to comment on the motive behind the attack on a 10-year-old boy who was stabbed to death near his Japanese school in Shenzhen this week. Police in the southern Chinese technology hub did not mention the victim's nationality in an initial statement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian expressed “sadness” over the killing during a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, calling it an “isolated incident.” “China will continue to take effective measures to protect all foreign nationals,” he added.
Months earlier, authorities also described a knife attack on a Japanese woman and child and the stabbing of four teachers at a U.S. college as “isolated incidents.” The date of this week's tragedy was notable: It fell on the anniversary of an event that sparked Japan's invasion of China – today is National Defense Education Day, when sirens sound in many cities across the country.
The verdict Communist Party has legitimized its policies in recent years by promoting a strong China on the world stage, a tactic that has led to growing hostility toward the U.S. and its allies, including Japan. Amid growing unrest over China's economic downturn, the government is now grappling with online hate spilling over into real-world violence.
“The Chinese authorities have clearly normalized nationalism as the 'correct' way of understanding the world,” says Florian Schneider, professor of modern China at Leiden University. “What citizens then do with this understanding is not the concern of the individual leader – and it can backfire, sometimes even spectacularly.”
On social media, Chinese users expressed criticism. “Who tolerates hate comments on the Internet?” asked one person under the Japanese embassy in China's post about the attack on the X-like Weibo. “Hate education has produced remarkable results,” read another comment with the most votes.
While nationalism may have been a trigger for recent outbreaks of violence, Schneider warned that the roots of this development are likely to be much deeper and linked to broader social and economic fears.
The collapse of China's real estate market has stripped households of about $18 trillion in wealth, according to Barclays Plc calculations, and triggered wage cuts and layoffs as the country grapples with its longest bout of deflation in decades. Earlier this year, Chinese social media users linked these economic pressures to a rise in violence.
Public violence against foreigners undermines Beijing's overarching goal of attracting foreign companies at a time of declining investment. Nearly half of Japanese firms recently surveyed in China said they would stop spending this year or even cut investment, citing rising wages, falling prices and geopolitical tensions.
“The current knife incident could add another problem to these problems,” said Lim Tai Wei, an associate research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, noting that the latest incident comes at a time when bilateral relations are easing somewhat.
Generations of Chinese citizens have grown up with hostile propaganda against Japan. Beijing claims Tokyo has not adequately apologized for wartime atrocities and is embroiled in territorial disputes over disputed islands in the East China Sea. These tensions have worsened as Asia's largest economies compete in a variety of trade areas and Tokyo forges closer military and trade ties with the United States.
Beijing stoked anti-Japanese sentiment last year by criticizing Tokyo's plans to release treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant and banning imports of all seafood from the neighboring country, a decision that contradicted scientists' assessment that the move was in line with global safety standards.
Indicating the growing hostility, a Chinese influencer recently posted a video desecrating the war-related Yasukuni Shrine, which is linked to Japan's history of military aggression. The act sparked criticism from some Chinese social media users over this display of extreme nationalism.
A viral WeChat article titled “I'm still sad about that Japanese boy” similarly questioned the growing anti-Japanese rhetoric that has become mainstream over the past decade.
“The voices supporting friendly exchanges between China and Japan have gradually been marginalized or even purged on the Internet,” the author wrote in a post that had been viewed over 12,000 times and had over 4,000 likes by Thursday afternoon.
Such narratives “will eventually go offline and have an impact on the real world,” the author wrote. The article was later censored “due to violations.”

It is a risk that the country's leaders are clearly aware of.
Beijing has kept its “wolf warrior” diplomats in check and sought to stabilize relations with the United States through a series of high-level diplomatic talks. After the stabbing attack on a Japanese woman and her child in June, Chinese authorities awarded a hero's medal to the bus attendant who sacrificed her life to save them, recognizing her efforts to help the foreigners.
The difficulty of changing the mood was demonstrated this week when the World Table Tennis Federation was attacked by Chinese fans for selling tickets to a tournament in Fukuoka, a city in Japan, on the same day Tokyo invaded China. Eventually, the organizers relented.
“The Communist Party has built up nationalism as a form of legitimacy, but it's like riding the target,” said Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to China. “It can't always control it in its own interests.”