Anti-Japanese Sentiment in China - Politics

Politics

Some believe that anti-Japanese sentiment in China is partially the result of political manipulation by the Communist Party of China. However, there are also signs showing that the Chinese government is also trying to cautiously cool down the anti-Japanese movement, because anti-Japanese riots and attacks have become increasingly common and there are signs showing it is going toward beyond the government's control. In 2012, during an anti-Japanese riot in Shenzhen, the crowd unsuccessfully attacked the city government's administrative building and demanded the government to declare war on Japan.

According to this view, Mao Zedong and the Communist party claimed the victory against the Japanese invaders as part of their legacy. Initially, there was no need to resort to anti-Japanese sentiment because the principal enemies of the new country were the United States and later the Soviet Union.

After the failure of the Great Leap Forward and the disruption of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and other leaders decided to take the country on a path of economic development based on the market economy, without relinquishing the party's grip on political power. According to this view, the government resorted to nationalism, including an appeal to the CCP's anti-Japanese credentials, in order to reassert its legitimacy to lead the country and defuse the inevitable tensions that would accompany rapid economic growth. Today, surveys have shown that anti-Japanese sentiment in China is higher among the current generation than among the Chinese who actually lived through the occupation of the Second Sino-Japanese War.