China’s Cultural Crackdown on Japan: Why East Asia Needs a Democratic China

In November 2025, China abruptly canceled numerous concerts by Japanese artists in response to rising diplomatic tensions, particularly after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's comments on potential military action if China threatens Taiwan.

Photo form Unsplash

China’s crackdown on Japanese cultural activities after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks highlights not only an attack on cross-border cultural exchange, but also the deeper problem of political authoritarianism inside China itself. Any sustainable peace in East Asia ultimately depends on a more democratic China in which citizens, not a rigid party-state, can openly debate foreign policy, cultural freedom, and relations with neighbors.

From culture control to political control

The abrupt cancellations of Japanese concerts, anime events, and film releases in Chinese cities are not isolated administrative decisions.

They flow from a system where state power faces almost no domestic checks!

When one leader’s Taiwan comments can trigger the quiet erasure of Japanese artists from stages and screens, it shows how cultural life in China remains hostage to top-down political directives rather than public choice. In a genuine democracy, governments may protest foreign statements, but they must still answer to voters, independent media, and courts if they trample cultural freedom or discriminate against foreign artists and their local fans. In China, however, the same machinery that censors domestic dissent can be effortlessly turned outward to punish foreign culture, leaving citizens with no institutional recourse and little transparency.

Why democracy in China matters

Promoting democracy in China is not about imposing a foreign model, but about affirming universal principles:

Free expression, pluralism, competitive elections, and the rule of law that binds the state as much as the citizen.

If Chinese people could freely organize parties, choose leaders, run independent unions, and criticize foreign and domestic policy without fear, decisions like a blanket clampdown on Japanese culture would face intense public scrutiny and likely resistance.

A more democratic China would also be a more predictable and responsible neighbor. Policies on Taiwan, Japan, and the broader region would have to survive open debate in parliament, media, and civil society rather than being framed solely by security agencies and propaganda organs. That would reduce the temptation to deploy nationalist outrage or cultural boycotts as tools of coercion, and instead encourage pragmatic, cooperative diplomacy grounded in accountable governance.

Supporting Chinese citizens fighting for freedom

Advocating democracy in China must center on solidarity with Chinese citizens, including the same young people now losing access to the Japanese music, anime, and films they love. They are not instruments of the state; they are potential allies in building a freer China where cultural openness is protected, not randomly revoked whenever the leadership feels slighted.

The authorities’ campaign against Japanese cultural activities illustrates how an unaccountable state can weaponize art and entertainment against both foreigners and its own citizens. A democratic China, bound by constitutional liberties, independent courts, and competitive politics, would find it far harder to erase foreign culture overnight or to use the nationalism to crackdown free speech.

Let me be clear: The Chinese people should be free to decide their own future through democratic means.

Only when Chinese citizens have the power to hold their rulers to account will cultural exchange cease to be a bargaining chip of authoritarian politics and become what it should be—a stable, mutually enriching bridge between societies.