China must avoid Europe’s mistakes and stand up against rising extremism

As many major world economies struggle, some people are turning to the far-right. Europe, which recently commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day, has seen support for far-right parties growing across the continent. Meanwhile, ultranationalism is boiling over on Chinese social media amid an attack on a Japanese school bus in Suzhou last week.

The extremism is so worrying that Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, Douyin and Bilibili have clamped down on extreme nationalist comments on their platforms. As the world drifts further to the right, how far will China’s ultranationalism go?

On June 24, a man armed with a knife attacked a bus used by a Japanese school in Suzhou. Two Japanese citizens at the bus stop were injured while Hu Youping, a Chinese woman who intervened to stop the attack, later died from the injuries she sustained. Chinese authorities called the attack an “isolated incident”.