Anti-Japan posts on Chinese social media after attack on Shinzo Abe, 'hero' assailant hailed

Beijing [China], July 8 : After reports on the attack on former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese nationalists on Friday started posting celebratory messages on social media hailing the "hero" assailant and sending "death wishes" for Abe.
Abe, 67, was shot at while he was campaigning in the west Japanese city of Nara, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in his live address to the country today adding that the condition of the former prime minister was grave.
Badiucao, a Chinese political cartoonist, artist and rights activist based in Australia shared a number of screenshots of various Chinese social media accounts, which apparently celebrated the attack on the former Japanese Prime Minister.
"Chinese nationalists on Weibo have begun to celebrate that Japan's ex PM Abe is shot during campaign today. they call the attacker "hero" and send death wishes to Abe," Badiucao said on his official Twitter handle.

The activist also noted the Chinese nationalists' reaction, which clearly shows the threat posed by Beijing.

The Australia-based activist also said: "From Weibo hashtag #An Bei Wu Sheng Ming Ti Zheng " (Abe has no vital signs) Abe has no life sign went viral in China a lot cheering for death from Chinese nationalists with this hashtag."

A screenshot shared by the Badiucao showed that China is running a campaign for Abe's death from its user.

Another user from WeChat said that "i hope it is the current Japanese PM got shot)... and Korean one too"

"Thank you anti-Japan hero (the attacker) "Can i laugh?" one user said.
"Party Time" said another one from WeChat, adding that "hope the men has trouble, hope the gun is fine" and "fuck i am so happy".
Meanwhile, Japanese Police have identified the suspect arrested for shooting Abe as Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old resident of Nara City, according to local media.
Initial media reports, citing authorities said that it appeared that Abe was shot at in the chest and described the condition of the former PM as in "cardiopulmonary arrest."
Local media reported that police has detained the assailant and retrieved a gun from the scene. Japan's public broadcaster NHK, citing police said that the suspected shooter is being held for questioning at the Nara Nishi police station and that he appears to have made the gun himself. While the police authorities were nabbing the assailant, the man did not attempt to run away.
World leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Former US President Donald Trump have conveyed their well wishes for Abe.
Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister had stepped down in 2020 citing health reasons. He was prime minister of Japan twice, from 2006-07 and again from 2012-20. He was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga and later by Fumio Kishida.
Shinzo Abe had in 2007 with the support of then Australian Prime Minister John Howard, then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then US Vice President Dick Cheney initiated the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) with the aim to counter China's influence.
Ties between Japan and China which have been tense for years owing to territorial disputes in the East China Sea, deteriorated in the year 2012 over the uninhabited Japanese-administered Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, which China considers as part of its territory.
In December 2021, Abe while delivering a speech to an audience in Taiwan via video said that any armed invasion of Taiwan would present a serious threat to Japan adding that Chinese President Xi Jinping should understand that a Taiwan crisis would be a Japan crisis and therefore a crisis for the Japan-US alliance. Abe's comment had irked Beijing.
Abe had also expressed his support for Taiwan's participation in the regional trade pact Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).