The Consul's Provocation Is a Performance for Beijing
- Published in
- The Sankei Shimbun (産経新聞)
- Date
- 17 November 2025
As reported by The Sankei Shimbun (産経新聞), 17 November 2025 — Alric Lee, Executive Director of Lady Liberty Hong Kong, on the Chinese consul's provocation of Prime Minister Takaichi.
Writing on Facebook, Alric Lee analyzed why China's Consul-General in Osaka, Xue Jian, directed inflammatory posts at Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. His reading, cited by The Sankei Shimbun: the outburst is "a carefully calculated performance to demonstrate loyalty to the party leadership — not intended to be read by Japanese people."
The real audience. Under Xi Jinping, Lee argues, diplomats are judged not by whether they improve bilateral relations but by how forcefully they display "the new strength of China" — the posture of 敢於亮劍, being unafraid to draw the sword. The more foreign backlash a diplomat provokes, the greater his standing at home. The messages appear addressed to Hongkongers or to Japan, but their true recipient is the Chinese Communist Party leadership.
A familiar playbook. Lee traces the pattern to Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, which he says shifted after the 2014 Umbrella Movement toward more aggressive interference — at times insulting the entire Hong Kong public, escalating into open abuse and threats "as if written by a thug," and continuing these "meaningless attacks" even after activists stopped responding.
How Japan should respond. Lee cautions against meeting provocation with excess emotion, which risks being exploited by the "angry Japan" narrative Chinese nationalism seeks — and lowering the civility of Japanese society itself. Instead he "strongly supports" Japan responding with a firm posture aligned to international standards, and reaffirming its own values.