Shanghai fans cheer for Japan, CCP party media says support should have boundaries

2026 World Cup Key News

(CNA, Beijing, July 4) Recently, some Shanghai fans cheered for the Japanese team while watching the World Cup football match in a bar. A new media outlet under the Propaganda Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China published an article stating that fan support should have "boundaries," and that extreme voices online are "using the excellent performance of the Japanese team to denigrate and maliciously attack the Chinese nation."

An article published on July 3 on the WeChat public account "Zhejiang Propaganda" stated that a group of people in a Shanghai bar cheered for the Japanese team while watching the World Cup, and fans even displayed the Japanese team flag and expressed their views on the current state of Sino-Japanese relations. This sparked controversy after being reported by foreign media.

Subsequently, the Shanghai Football Association issued an "Initiative for Civilized Viewing of the World Cup Football Match," stating that "football has no borders, but fans have a homeland," and advocating for rational and civilized viewing.

The article said that the phenomenon of Chinese fans supporting other teams across national borders is not limited to the Japanese team, especially since the Chinese team has been absent from the World Cup finals for a long time, and some fans will look for a "second favorite team." It is true that some netizens have liked the Japanese team, "but this kind of liking is mainly limited to the recognition of football competition level, and does not mean acceptance of other aspects."

The article stated that there are unforgettable historical wounds between China and Japan, and more importantly, many Japanese politicians are still "aggressively provoking" on historical and territorial issues. In this context, "it is very likely that some fans openly express their love for a team with complex historical entanglements with their own country in front of overseas media, which may cause emotional pain to their compatriots around them. This practice itself is worth considering."

The article claimed that fan support should have boundaries and cannot be used as a tool to "carry hidden agendas."

The article said that there are individual extreme voices on Chinese social media, "using the excellent performance of the Japanese team to denigrate and maliciously attack the Chinese nation"; while praising Japanese football as the "light of Asia," they express "pro-Japanese sentiments" and even insult netizens who refute them as "sick men of East Asia." "These accounts, under the guise of supporting the Japanese football team, are engaging in 'Jingri' (Japanophile) behavior."

In the World Cup knockout stage at the end of June, the Japanese team was eliminated after a fierce match with Brazil, failing to reach the top 16. Head coach Hajime Moriyasu said that the Japanese team has proven its ability to compete with the world's top powers, but also clearly saw the shortcomings in individual player ability and tactics, and that continuous improvement is still needed in the future. (Editor: Chou Hui-ying) 1150704

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