Publication

The commentary investigates why China is playing the nationalist card in its relations with Japan. It argues that Beijing's anti-Japanese posture is a response to domestic political instability. Chinese citizens have become better educated and more vocal and have started questioning the lack of judicial and political reform on the one hand and the corruption scandals and unpaid wages on the other. The CCP has used patriotic education and the promotion of nationalist ideas, in which Japan is an easy scapegoat, to keep anti-government sentiments at bay. Beijing is playing an increasingly dangerous political game that might in the end prove to be a double-edged sword.