China car killings could spark new round of security measures

A fatal car attack on pedestrians at a sports facility in southern China that left at least 35 people dead could spark a fresh round of security measures, observers said, as the ruling Communist Party counts the cost of a growing number of “social revenge” attacks on members of the public.

At least 35 people were killed and 43 injured when a driver rammed his car into a crowd at a stadium in Zhuhai city, prompting a rare call from President Xi Jinping for an investigation and for the perpetrator to be punished.

Local police had initially downplayed the attack, saying only that “a small vehicle hit several pedestrians,” and the death toll wasn’t announced until several hours later.

Authorities moved quickly to remove floral tributes left for the victims by members of the public, many of them dropped at the scene by delivery riders, Reuters reported, adding that security guards had stopped reporters at the scene from speaking to local people who left flowers in person.

There was scant mention of the attack, which happened at the start of the Zhuhai Air Show, in state-run media initially, although state broadcaster CCTV did report on Xi’s call for an investigation.

‘Social revenge’

Commentators told Radio Free Asia that China has seen a spate of “social revenge” attacks by angry people on innocent members of the public in recent years, and that the government sees them as a growing threat to its political stability.

A person inside the Zhuhai government told Radio Free Asia that the death toll was likely far higher than official reports.

Zhuhai police later said they had detained a 62-year-old man surnamed Fan, saying he “drove a small, off-road vehicle into the municipal stadium grounds, ramming citizens who were exercising on the pathways there.”

“He was stopped by police who rushed to the scene as he was driving away,” the municipal police department said in a statement via social media. Fan was “self-harming with a knife” at the time he was apprehended, and was taken to hospital in a coma, where he remains under criminal detention, it said.

An investigation has so far revealed that the attack was motivated by Fan’s “dissatisfaction with the division of property following a divorce,” the statement said.

“The impact of this incident in Zhuhai is clearly going to be devastating,” current affairs commentator Johnny Lau told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview. “A lot of people will be wondering why these acts of social revenge take place.”

“There’s no single reason, but everyone will naturally be thinking that maybe some government policies are driving people to extremes,” he said. “A lot of people will be thinking along those lines.”

Politically sensitive

Lee Cheng-hsiu of Taiwan’s Institute for National Policy Research said the government’s handling of the incident shows that the incident was regarded as politically sensitive by Beijing.

“This shouldn’t have an impact on so-called social stability maintenance,” Lee said in a reference to the nationwide system of security measures aimed at preventing the signs of social unrest before they happen. “But yet they’re still strictly controlling media reporting, which shows how afraid the Chinese Communist Party is.”

“The slightest sign of social disturbance has to be stamped out as soon as possible, for fear that it will trigger a mass movement,” he said.

The Zhuhai attack came as authorities across northern China banned students from taking part in mass, night-time bike rides that attracted hundreds of thousands of riders, some carrying national flags or banners calling for “freedom.”

“The thing the Chinese Communist Party fears the most is the Chinese people,” Lee said.

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France-based commentator Wang Longmeng said the incident would likely spark a fresh round of political purges and security measures.

“Now that Xi Jinping has issued instructions, I think the whole of the Chinese Communist Party will now carry out a major purge of society, identify a new batch of social instability targets, and place tight controls on them,” Wang said.

“But the tighter its grip on society, the more it contributes [to incidents like this one].”

According to social media video posted to X, China has seen a spate of car attacks in recent months, including one by the driver of a concrete truck in the northeastern city of Qingdao, who yelled “The Communist Party won’t let me live!”

Japanese told to keep low profile

The Japanese Embassy warned its citizens to keep a low profile, and particularly to avoid speaking loudly in Japanese in public places.

It said that a number of violent incidents had occurred in China in recent months, although no Japanese nationals were hurt in the Zhuhai attack.

When asked about the attack, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told journalists on Wednesday that “China is one of the safest countries in the world.”

Japan-based current affairs commentator Wuyue Sanren said Xi’s involvement had elevated the Zhuhai attack.

“This is now being regarded as a major incident because Xi Jinping personally issued those instructions,” he said. “The entire government, law enforcement system and the propaganda system will now be dealing with it.”

He said such violent outbursts had become a “new normal” for China.

“It’s a time when everything is going downhill, and there is no hope,” Wuyue told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview. “When they’re in extremis, some people kill themselves, and some people kill others.”

“This kind of lone-wolf attack has become part of social revenge in China -- a new normal,” he said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.