Messerangriff auf japanische Mutter und Kind in China löst ausländerfeindliche Gefühle aus

The recent knife attacks against foreigners in China have triggered some unsettling insight into the overall nature of Chinese attitudes toward foreigners, as comments on Chinese social media reveal a deep undercurrent of xenophobic hate which the Chinese government has tellingly chosen not to censor.

> “Japanese people should reflect. Why were they targeted and not other people?” said one of the top comments on a news report on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo. The comment drew more than 450 likes and over 360 replies.

> “Although I don’t agree with such extreme methods, I can’t help but ask, who is the hero that did this?” said another comment on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.

The latest incident in Suzhou follows a previous one on June 10, involving four American college instructors who [were injured in a public park in Jilin province](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c844q27v732o).

> Online commentator Hu Xijin, who is formerly the chief editor of China’s Global Times, had earlier posted on Weibo that China has been seeing a growing number of foreign visitors and the Chinese are “typically friendly” toward them. He described the incident as a “chance event”.

However, [up to half of the foreigners residing in China](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2024/02/15/2003813561) have departed over the past few years, while 98 percent of US students have chosen to leave, many of whom describe China as anything but friendly to foreigners.

Questions have arisen over what the Chinese government intends to accomplish here, as it seemly has prioritized encouraging xenophobia at home, [particularly during the COVID-19 outbreak](https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/07/china-zero-covid-xenophobia/), while at the same time attempting to promote China as a safe and attractive destination for foreign investment, [even as foreign investment plummets](https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-suffers-56-drop-in-foreign-investments-on-weak-domestic-demand).

With a looming population crisis, it seems that the much lauded by some foreign observers as “4D chess long game playing” Chinese government has failed to absorb much of the wisdom that other economies have obtained regarding immigration, globalism and international relations and instead has reverted back to Boxer Rebellion era attitudes that eventually led to the downfall of the 2,000 year old dynastic system.