Several commentators on Weibo, a Chinese social networking platform, greeted the news of Abe’s assassination by inviting everyone to eat and drink!
By Miltos Sakellaris
Japan and a huge part of the international community reacted with dismay to assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But not in China, where the response to social media it was sprinkled with joy and … vitriol against Abe.
As unbelievable as it sounds, several commentators on Weibo, a Chinese social networking platform, greeted the news of Abe’s assassination by inviting everyone to eat and drink! In fact, some have said his killer is a “hero” as Abe has spearheaded a foreign policy aimed at countering the expansion of China’s growing economic, diplomatic and military footprint in the Indo-Pacific that has angered Beijing.
The above, according to reports prove China’s government propaganda decades of fueling Chinese nationalism. The propaganda also complicates Beijing’s efforts to improve relations with Tokyo to offset the Biden administration’s strategy to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.
“The American public must remember that the Japanese were the Nazis of Asia [στον Δεύτερο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο] – killed millions of Chinese, and the modern Chinese founding myth is a struggle against Japan,” said Matthew Schmidt, director of international affairs at the University of New Haven. “Abe was a controversial figure [στην Κίνα] because his basic position was: “I want a Japan that is no longer tied to the history of World War II.”
The Chinese embassy in Tokyo, however, said in a statement that the government was “shocked” by Abe’s killing and gave him “the improvement and development of China-Japan relations”. But Chinese government censors have not removed the anti-Abe comments from the internet, suggesting a degree of official tolerance. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian declined to comment Friday on netizen reactions. “This unexpected incident should not be linked to China-Japan relations”he said.
It is characteristic that the online comments against the assassinated Abe reflect how the Chinese education system—tailored to a national “patriotic education” curriculum with an aggressively anti-Japanese historical narrative—has conditioned a generation of young Chinese to revile Japan.
These feelings of hatred are fueled by both the horrors Japan inflicted on China in World War II and the long-standing territorial disputes over control of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the South China Sea. The Chinese government calls World War II “The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.”
Abe has become an outspoken advocate for Japan’s protection of Taiwan since stepping down as prime minister in 2020, making him the target of criticism from China’s foreign ministry.
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