Xi’s Nationalism Faces Reckoning After Murder of Japanese Boy in China

President Xi Jinping has overseen a surge in Chinese nationalism to boost his government’s popularity as tensions have frayed with rivals. Now, the murder of a Japanese boy is exposing the dangers of that tactic.

Chinese officials have declined to comment on the motive behind the attack on a 10-year-old boy stabbed this week near his Japanese school in Shenzhen, only revealing the attacker was “someone with a criminal record.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said he was “saddened” by the killing, insisting it was an “individual case” at a regular press briefing Thursday in Beijing. “China will continue to take effective measures to protect all foreign nationals,” he added. Months earlier, Chinese authorities also described a knife attack on a Japanese woman and child, as well as the stabbing of four teachers from a US college, as “isolated” incidents.

But the date of this week’s tragedy stood out: It fell on the sensitive anniversary of an event that triggered Japan’s invasion of China — now called National Defense Education Day, when sirens sound in cities across the world’s No. 2 economy.

The ruling Communist Party has legitimized its policies in recent years by promoting an assertive China on the world stage, often fomenting hostility toward the US and its allies, including Japan. With disgruntlement spreading over the nation’s economic slowdown, the government is now grappling with online hatred spilling over into real-life violence.

“Chinese authorities have certainly normalized nationalism as the ‘correct’ way to understand the world,” said Leiden University’s chair professor of modern China. “What citizens then do with that understanding is not up to any individual leader — and it can backfire, sometimes spectacularly so.”

On social media, some were critical of the government, reflecting a more moderate slice of society. “Who tolerated hateful comments online?” one person asked under the Japanese Embassy in China’s post about the attack on the X-like Weibo. “The hatred education has had remarkable results,” read another top-voted comment.