Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming expressed his position on anti-Chinese sentiment in Korea over the Beijing Winter Olympics.
According to China's state-run Global Times and the Global Times, Ambassador Xing Haiming said in an interview with Ajou Economic Daily on the 21st that "the controversy over the Beijing Winter Olympics was intentionally fanned by some," and "expanding differences of opinion between the people of the two countries." And there was a deep misunderstanding,” he said.
Ambassador Singh pointed to some media outlets and netizens as 'intentionally fanned' actors.
"Some unilateral media reports and keyboard warriors on the Internet have contributed primarily to arousing negative emotions in the two countries," Singh noted.
He continued, "I'm so sorry and my heart aches."
Earlier, the Chinese embassy in Korea issued a statement in the name of its spokesperson on the 11th as anti-Chinese sentiment spread over the short track bias judgment during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
"Some Korean media and politicians have turned their arrows to the Chinese government and the Beijing Olympics as a whole, and have even fueled anti-Chinese sentiment, aggravating the sentiments of the people of both countries, and provoking a counterattack from Chinese netizens," the statement said.
"The Chinese side cannot accept the very irresponsible attitude of some Korean media and politicians making assumptions that 'there is a dark curtain in the Olympics' and saying 'The Chinese government and the Ministry of Sports should reflect'."
Politicians have fallen out of favor and netizens have taken their place.
Xing Haiming: "Negative sentiments in China and Korea are temporary"
Ambassador Xing Haiming said, "The negative sentiment between the Chinese and Korean people is a temporary phenomenon."
He said, "The two countries are close neighbors with thousands of years of friendly exchanges, similar cultures, and emotional empathy. emphasized.
"I hope that the two countries will make joint efforts in all fields to bring the friendship between the two countries to normal track as soon as possible," he said.
Ambassador Singh also cited the impressive scene where Korean and Chinese athletes took a picture together after winning silver and bronze medals in the women's 3,000m short track relay held on the 13th, respectively.
"In particular, the media should strengthen objective and rational reporting, refrain from emotional speech and actions, and actively eliminate misunderstandings and disagreements between the people of the two countries," he said.
He also urged netizens from both countries to "look at related issues from a more rational and calm perspective, and hope that we will be able to jointly safeguard the hard-earned friendship between China and Korea."
He also said that the Chinese embassy will serve as a bridge of communication and understanding.
China's state-run media are also in 'restraint mode'... Report on the positive side of Korea
Chinese state-run media have also entered a mode of 'constrain escalation'.
Instead of negative articles such as 'Korean short track athletes still commit frequent fouls because they do not change their habit of tormenting their opponents' and 'Korean athletes are being ridiculed for awards ceremony', it contains articles that show the positive side of Korean athletes.
The Global Times reported on the 21st that in an article titled 'emphasis on true friendship beyond borders', as one example, Korean athletes left a letter of appreciation to the catering team at the Zhangjiakou Olympic Village.
The Korean players expressed their appreciation for providing a birthday cake and creating a wonderful birthday experience.
The Global Times also reported on the 20th, "Korean short track skater Kim A-Rang posted a picture of herself holding the Olympic mascot Bing-Dun-Dun on social media and received nearly 40,000 likes, and Korean netizens responded, 'It's so cute.'" reported.
"Through the Olympics, Korea-China sentiment worsened, Chinese-Japanese sentiment improved."
One of the notable aspects of the Chinese media's reports about the Olympics is that they are very favorable to Japanese athletes and officials.
In a joint editorial on the 11th, the Global Times and the Global Times wrote, "Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu failed in the quadruple axel (four and a half revolutions), a difficult jump, but many Chinese netizens are impressed and applauded for his challenging spirit." told
A photo of Hanyu and Chinese figure skater Jin Jinbo wearing the same hat and shoulder-to-shoulder was also widely reported.
Introducing the relationship between Sui-Ming, who has emerged as a snowboarding hero in China, and his Japanese coach, he expressed it as "father-like", and also conveyed the moment by moment that Japanese reporters and players are passionate about Bingdun-dun.
This is unusual considering that China-Japan relations have deteriorated as Japan has strengthened its pro-US action amid the recent US-China conflict.
The Global Times predicted in an interview with former Japanese diplomat Kazuo Ogura that "the Beijing Winter Olympics will be a catalyst for deepening friendly relations between China and Japan."
A diplomatic source said, "There is an evaluation that the sentiment between China and Japan has improved while going through the Beijing Winter Olympics, while sentiment between Korea and China has deteriorated."
As Ambassador Xing Haiming pointed out earlier, some Korean media and some netizens may have amplified anti-Chinese sentiment.
As a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Korea expressed, there may be an aspect that South Korean politicians instigated anti-Chinese sentiment ahead of the presidential election.
However, what sparked this anti-Chinese sentiment was a series of biased judgments based on the home advantage of China and the host country, which introduced hanbok at the opening ceremony.
Anti-Chinese sentiment had already spread out of control before the media, some netizens, and politicians fueled it.
Rather, the Chinese state media blamed the Korean players, arguing that 'China did not have a home advantage' and fanning it.
If the Chinese state media had shown favor to the Korean players earlier as they did to the Japanese players, at least the anti-Chinese sentiment would not have grown as much as now if they had recognized their home advantage during the tournament and pledged to compete fairly.
As Ambassador Xing Haiming mentioned, anti-Chinese sentiment in Korea has deep roots, starting with kimchi and historical processes.
It is also true that the roots of the THAAD crisis and the COVID-19 outbreak have strengthened.
The deep-seated emotions have erupted again with this Olympic event.
Clearly, it is a task to be solved.