The number of Japanese nationals living in China has fallen to its lowest level in two decades, with experts citing the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s growing focus on national security and nationalism, coupled with a flagging post-lockdown economy.
The number of Japanese nationals living in China on Oct. 1, 2024, was 97,538, a 4% fall from the previous year, marking the 12th consecutive year of decline, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday citing Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs data.
The number is also the lowest in 20 years, the report said.
The figures come amid signs that Beijing Beijing is keen to seek further rapprochement with Japan amid worsening tensions with the United States and an exodus of foreign investors.
In November, China added Japanese passport-holders to a newly expanded list of people eligible for unilateral visa-free entry on a trial basis, and removed a buoy near the Diaoyu Islands, which are also claimed by Japan as the Senkaku Islands.
Yet concerns are also being raised about anti-Japanese hate in China following the killing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in the southern city of Shenzhen last year, and just three months after a knife attack on a Japanese mother and child in the eastern city of Suzhou in June.
In the wake of the Shenzhen tragedy, social media footage of people in China trampling on the Japanese flag highlighted nationalist sentiment, forcing the foreign ministry to deny that the government teaches its citizens to hate Japan.
Japanese companies have also been spooked by recent changes to national security legislation, including greater powers for police raids in cases of suspected “espionage,” according to Yang Haiying, a professor at Japan’s Shizuoka University.
Espionage laws
Tokyo has advised its nationals to be “alert” regarding the changes to espionage laws, and has asked Beijing to clarify exactly which activities constitute spying.
At least 17 Japanese nationals have been detained in China on “spying” allegations since the law first took effect in 2014.
“China’s national security laws, the arrests of spies and so on have panicked foreigners, including the Japanese,” Yang told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview. “[China] also never reforms any of its state-owned enterprises or economic structures.”
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In a major departure from the market-oriented economic policy of the past 40 years, the Chinese Communist Party is moving to take greater control of technology and telecom companies, with a return to the era of “joint ventures” between the state and private sector.
Many of the changes have taken place since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, since when the number of Japanese living in China has steadily declined.
Hideo Tarumi, a former Japanese ambassador to Beijing who left his post in December 2023 amid deteriorating bilateral ties, has described Xi as a formerly “humble” leader who now rules China in the style of late supreme leader Mao Zedong.
“There are many reasons for what has become an unstoppable trend,” Yang said. “First, the Chinese economic environment isn’t good, and foreign companies are struggling to transfer some of their investments out of the country.”
“They’re only being allowed to invest in China, to transfer money around in the Chinese market, and to serve China, but the funds can’t be remitted overseas, except by improper means,” he said.
A public opinion poll conducted by Japan’s Cabinet Office in 2023 found that 87% of respondents have no sense of “closeness to China,” the highest figure in 20 years.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.