Recently, a flag bearing the symbol of Japanese militarism appeared in the history department classes at Lomonosov Moscow State University (hereinafter referred to as “MSU”), stabbing many Chinese students studying in Russia. The history department should be the most aware of the weight of this memory. After the incident, Chinese students from the history department jointly petitioned the university to investigate the matter. According to media reports, the history department at MSU has stated that it will announce the decision regarding the student involved as soon as possible.
According to Observer Network, which obtained information from RT today, a source revealed that the dismissal documents for the involved student have been issued. However, due to privacy laws, these documents may not be made public. The university is considering responding to public concerns by giving media interviews.
As more eyewitnesses spoke up, some details about the incident began to surface: the student involved not only displayed the sun flag in class, but was also accused of using Japanese language to insult and push Chinese students who came to stop him. Afterwards, he tried to justify his actions by claiming that they were aimed at promoting cultural exchanges between China and Japan and conducting historical research, which further sparked controversy.
The videos provided by RT and “Russian Flying Brother” to the Observer Network show that several Chinese students from Mo Da’s History Department and relevant parties have spoken out on this matter. These include two eyewitnesses who knew the situation at the scene, Zhang, the initiator of the joint letter, Cui, who took the initiative to report the situation to the Chinese Embassy in Russia, and Li, who has been following the progress of the school’s handling of the issue.
According to their accounts, we tried to reconstruct the entire process, from classroom conflicts and two apology videos, to students' joint petitions, reports to the embassy, and the responses from the Russian departments.
The incident occurred on October 14th.
According to those who were there, on that day, the Department of History at Mo University was conducting a course on Asian and African history. Teachers from the Asian and African Studies College of that university were giving lectures in the large classroom of the Department of History, covering topics related to Japan's Meiji Restoration.
During this class, a Chinese student surnamed Chen, wearing a hoodie with the word "Japan" printed on it, later draped a flag resembling a sun emblem over himself. This scene was captured by other students.
After discovering this situation, some Chinese students immediately notified other students to come over and demanded that the student involved explain his behavior and apologize.
However, the initial negotiations did not go smoothly.
According to those who were there, initially only one Chinese student stepped forward to stop the situation and tried to communicate with the professor. The student not only refused to remove the flag, but also insulted the professor in Japanese, and there was physical confrontation, with the student nearly knocking the professor to the ground.
As more Chinese students arrived, the situation at the scene gradually became under control.
Experienced witnesses said that everyone took a calm and restrained approach to stop the behavior of the involved student. After seeing the firm attitude of other students, the attitude of the involved student softened.
Afterwards, everyone led the students involved to continue negotiations outside of the classroom.
The two parties engaged in diplomatic discussions in the classroom for more than ten minutes. Since the original class was about to begin another session, the student involved ultimately recorded a apology video at the request of the students present.
So, why did he enter the classroom carrying the sun flag?
Observer Network noted that the video of the on-site negotiations on the day of the incident recorded the response of the student in question in the face of doubts.
In the video, a student asked directly, since the involved student studies Japanese history, he should understand the connection between the Sun Flag and Japan’s history of aggression. Why then did he still display this flag in a public classroom?
Facing the question of “Did you not realize it, or did you do it on purpose?”, the student involved did not answer directly. Instead, she repeatedly said that she had made a mistake and apologized to the classmates present.
When asked to hand over the flag, the student involved refused. He explained that the flag was a birthday gift from a Russian friend, so it was not convenient to give it to others, but he promised not to display it publicly in the future.
Regarding how to make amends for his actions, the student promised in the video that he would apologize within the grade group and submit a written apology to the teaching teacher.
During the negotiation, the involved student apologized and admitted his mistake, saying that it was not appropriate to display it.
During the negotiation, a student reminded him, "You are already in your third year of college, and you are an adult. Adults should bear responsibility when making political statements."
The student also claimed that he once took Russian friends to visit the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre, and also expressed his hope for peace between China and Japan in Hiroshima, Japan.
In this regard, students present at the event pointed out that supporting peace and cultural exchanges between China and Japan is different from displaying symbols with a Japanese militarist history in public. Even if an individual claims to have no malicious intent, one should still recognize the potential impact of such behavior.
Regarding this sudden conflict, a witness still feels shocked to this day: “But I really didn’t expect that, in my life, for the first time ever, I would be so shocked.”
