Knife attack on Japanese woman, child fans online xenophobia

Recent incidents raise concerns about growing anti-foreigner sentiments in China

- Lim Min Zhang

A knife attack on a Japanese woman and her child in China on June 24 has triggered yet another wave of xenophobic comments on Chinese social media, with some even hailing the attacker as a “hero”.

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.

Despite the authorities saying these are isolated cases, the two incidents are raising concerns among foreigners, within and outside China, about growing anti-foreigner sentiments in a country where violent crimes are rare.

The suspected assailant in Suzhou – a high-tech manufacturing hub west of Shanghai – was arrested at the scene, a bus stop near a Japanese school. He was identified by the police as a 52-year-old unemployed Chinese man.

The two Japanese victims suffered non-life threatening injuries and were taken to hospital, said Suzhou police. A Chinese woman who tried to prevent the attack was seriously wounded.

While official investigations have not revealed any motives for the attack, that did not stop netizens from suggesting that the nationality of the victims was a contributing factor.

“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.