Amid China-Japan diplomacy spat, a warning for students

Ongoing diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over Japan’s comments on Taiwan earlier this month have prompted both China and Japan to issue warnings to their students, and have had a spillover effect on Japanese universities that host Chinese students – the largest group of international students in Japan.

President of Suzuka University, Akihiro Mizutani, called the situation deeply worrying. “The university has received several enquiries from the parents of our Chinese students who are enquiring about the safety of their children,” he told University World News.

Suzuka, a private university, is located in Mie Prefecture. As a regional higher education institution, it faces greater financial and population challenges compared to its bigger urban counterparts.

“There is no threat to Chinese students in our area, but the fallout from the current political tension is doubly risky for smaller universities like us,” Mizutani added, noting that foreign graduates play a crucial role in filling a large labour gap in rural businesses, such as those in the local tourism industry, where they find jobs as interpreters and in hotels that struggle with workforce shortages.

China’s Ministry of Education has warned of “social unrest” in Japan – without providing evidence – and rising crimes against Chinese nationals in Japan. It said Chinese should “carefully reconsider” studying in Japan.

Meanwhile, Japan has urged its citizens in China, especially students, to take extra precautions.

Japan’s foreign affairs ministry this week rejected China’s claim of a surge in criminal cases against Chinese nationals in the country, saying “such an assertion is incorrect”.

Mizutani said a Chinese student withdrew her application to the university, citing her decision to return to her country. However, enrolled Chinese students have not dropped out, he noted.

Impact on educational events

The Japan-China University President’s Conference (also known as the Sino-Japan University President Forum), slated for November 20 to November 22 in Wuhan, China, was postponed. No reason was provided by the Chinese side, according to a statement by Nagoya University in Japan expressing regret at the situation.

This year representatives of 37 institutions from Japan and China were scheduled to meet at the forum, which was launched in 2000 for university leaders from both countries to exchange views on education and research.

However, the China-Japan Education Exchange Conference went ahead on 10 November in Tokyo, where representatives from over 100 universities and educational institutions “gathered to discuss new directions for bilateral educational cooperation,” according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.

Zhao Baogang, minister counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Japan, said over 9,000 inter-university cooperation agreements have been signed between the two countries.

However, citing safety concerns, Hong Kong’s education bureau said on 22 November the city would withdraw from this year’s Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths Programme. More than a dozen students and teachers were due to attend the event beginning 7 December, which Hong Kong has attended since 2008, funded by Japan.

Warning to students

The current Sino-Japan tensions follow a stern response from Beijing to remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Taiwan in the Japanese Diet on 7 November.

Takaichi, Japan’s new female leader – a conservative who is expected to push for strong national defence capabilities – told opposition lawmakers in the Diet that a sea blockade around Taiwan by China “would constitute a survival-threatening situation” for Japan, Japanese media reported. She also expressed the right of Japan in that situation to exercise collective self-defence.

China views the self-governing island of Taiwan as a breakaway Chinese province.

Beijing reacted strongly, criticising Takaichi’s remarks as “erroneous” and “brazenly provocative”, and demanded their retraction. The Chinese government followed this up with an official warning to its citizens, including students, to carefully reconsider visiting or studying in Japan. It said Takaichi’s remarks had undermined the atmosphere for China-Japan exchanges.

“The resulting security situation and study environment are unfavourable, increasing the safety risks for Chinese citizens in Japan,” read a statement from China’s ministry.

“The Ministry of Education reminds those already in Japan or planning to study there to closely monitor the local security situation, strengthen risk assessments, and enhance their awareness of prevention. Chinese citizens are advised to carefully plan their study abroad arrangements in Japan.”

Separately, Japan warned its students in China to avoid becoming potential targets of reprisal.

Enrolment figures

Over 3,000 Japanese students were enrolled in Chinese universities in 2023, down from more than 7,000 in 2022, according to Japan’s Education Ministry. The Japan Student Services Organisation (JASSO) put the number of Chinese students in Japan enrolled in longer and shorter programmes as of May 2024 at around 123,485.

Chinese students studying full-time in Japan rose to 41.2% of total international students in higher education institutes in Japan in 2024, followed by Nepalese at 37,203 and Vietnamese at 22,633.

Chinese students play a vital role in Japanese higher education, according to academics, as the population of Japanese 18-year-olds is expected to decline from the current 1.1 million to 820,000 in 2040. Japan’s 810 universities are currently enrolling 630,000 new students annually in undergraduate courses.

Private universities are hardest hit by the demographic crunch. Of these, 53% are smaller institutions in the countryside that are failing to meet admission quotas.

For instance, at Suzuka University with 700 students, Chinese nationals are currently the second largest group at 44, following Nepalese students at the top with 125. Overall, there are 200 international students who comprise over 60% of those enrolled in the Department of International Area Studies.

Political tensions between the two major Asian economies have occurred previously. In 2012 Chinese ships intruding into Japanese territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands – Diaoyu Islands in Chinese – also sparked diplomatic tensions affecting travel between people from both countries.