Tikong, Taiwan – For one user on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, the problem was the Americans.
“The British people make me anxious too, but I hate Americans,” read the user’s comment.
For another, it was Japanese.
“I really hope the Japanese will die,” the user repeated 25 times in a post.
Non -national terrorist and medical comments on Chinese social media platforms are easy, even after some of the largest technology companies in the country last year pledged to rush to hate speech after a series of knife attacks on Japanese and American citizens in the country.
Since the summer, there have been at least four stab wounds from foreign citizens in China, including an accident in September in which a 10 -year -old Japanese student was killed in Church.
This attack, which took place on the anniversary of a false flag that was organized by Japanese military personnel to justify the conquest of Manchuria, prompted the Japanese government to demand an explanation from its Chinese counterpart, as well as assurances that it would make more effort to protect the Japanese citizens.
After the accident, some Japanese companies offered to return their employees and their families home.
Months ago, a knife attack was hit by four coaches of American colleges in Gilin, the United States of Chinese relations under a strain, with the US ambassador R. Nicholas Burns accused the Chinese authorities of not reaching information about the accident, including the attacker’s motive.
Beijing, with regret, insisted on the attacks and condolences to the families of the victims, that the series of stab wounds was isolated.
“Similar cases can occur in any country,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lynn Jian.
While the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese embassy in Tokyo did not respond to requests for suspension, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, said that Chinese law “clearly prohibits the use of the Internet to spread extremism, ethnic hatred, discrimination, violence and violence, other information.”
“The Chinese government has always opposed any form of discrimination and hate speech, and called on all sectors of society to maintain the arrangement and security of the electronic space,” said a spokesman for the island.
Wang Zishn, a former journalist in the former Chinese media and founder of the newsletter, said that violence against foreigners in China is rare, as the height of the attacks in 2024 and the spread of hate speech online has pushed anxiety inside the country.
“It has begun in home discussions about this type of speech and how to make it up,” Wang told Al -Jazeera.
Despite the pledges of Chinese technology companies to take strict measures on hate speech against foreigners, this content is far from Andrew Devin, a PhD at the University of Toulin in the United States specializing in authoritarian policy in China.
“Especially since [tech] Companies have incentives for not controlling hate speech. “
While the algorithms used by Chinese social media platforms to distribute content with the Chinese government have been shared, it was not disclosed to the public, which makes it difficult to know the exact mechanism in which hate speech multiplies online.
Elena Yi-Ching Ho, an independent research analyst that focuses on propaganda and social media in China, said that the algorithms used by Chinese social media platforms most likely do not differ from those used by platforms outside the country.
“They want to increase participation between users on their platforms, and they want users to stay on their platform as long as possible,” he said.
In searching for user interest, it may be profitable for Chinese influencers and Vloggers to find controversy with non -national content.
In China today, the perceived lack of patriotism can attract public anger.
Last year, the Chinese company Nongfu Spring removed its bottles from stores collectively after social media users claimed that the company’s logo depicted Mount Fuji in Japan.
Online condemnation to the owner of the company, Chung Shanshan, who had his loyalty to China interrogated, has spread, which is an exaggeration charge that his son holds American citizenship.
In 2023, a rock and eggs were thrown into two Japanese schools in Qingdao and Suzisho after Tokyo decided to launch the treated radioactive sewage from the Fukushima Nuclear Factory at sea.
Wang said that the spread of negative comments on foreigners on Chinese social media was partial as a result of the increase in hostility between China and some other countries.
“Chinese relations have deteriorated with some countries in recent years,” Wang said.
China and Japan erupted on a number of historical and regional conflicts, including the placing of the Dio/Cinnoko Islands in the East China Sea.
The United States and China have also seen that relations are declining in recent years amid disputes over topics ranging from trade to Covid-19’s assets to Beijing’s claims to own self-Taiwan.
But hate speech towards foreigners precedes some of these modern clashes, according to HO.
“Japan and Japanese have been special goals for that,” she said.
Some Chinese bloggers and social media users follow the roots of negative feelings towards the Japanese people to what they call “hate teaching” about Japan, including their violations in the imperial era in China.
Wang said that the actions of Japan during World War II have strongly affected China’s national psyche.
He said: “Japan launched invasions in World War II, where up to tens of millions of Chinese people died, and this is still in many of the minds of the Chinese people today.”
“For some people, there is a feeling that the Japanese did not do enough to atone for it.”
However, some Chinese citizens argue that atrocities in Japan should not be used to justify hateful feelings towards the Japanese today.
“I think we need to change the way we deal with our past if we want to see a less bleak speech,” Tina Woo, 29 -year -old social media director in Shanghai, told Al Jazerera.
Although hate speech is not only a problem on the Internet in China, Chinese social media platforms, unlike those in the United States, work in a largely controlled environment where repression in sensitive subjects are a semi -fixed event.
China has the lowest free internet environment in the world alongside Myanmar, according to a report on 72 countries by non -profit Freedom House in the United States.
In 2020, more than 35,000 words related to Chinese President Xi Jinping alone were subject to control, according to the China Digital newspaper.
Divine said that some hateful comments are subject to censorship, as the content that repeats the official position of the Chinese government is less likely to be removed.
He said he does not believe that the promise of Chinese technology companies to contact foreigners to foreigners and hatred will do a lot to change the spread of this content.
“At the same time, technology companies want to avoid the additional cost to buy them,” he said.
Wang said that regardless of the incentives, social media platforms that include more than a billion active users cannot clarify each case of hate.
He said: “There is a lot of information and more than that more is added that there is no way to eliminate or eliminate it.”
“Even Chinese moderation capabilities have their borders.”
Wang said he was optimistic that friendly exchanges in China with some countries recently and that the growing power in the country and its impact will lead to a less anti -foreigner feeling.
He said, “China must have the confidence of walking in the future with a greater sense of safety and confidence rather than remaining in the memories of the past.”
Wu from Shanghai also said she hoped to see a reassessment of some dominant novels in China, especially with regard to foreigners.
She said: “It is a large part of the Chinese story at the present time after we were constantly victims of foreign aggression.”
“As long as this is still a strong message, I am afraid that there may be more attacks on foreigners in China.”