Chinese Media Insult Japan’s Uyghur Minister Arfiya Eri Over Uyghur Advocacy

Uyghur Times

March 5, 2026

by Uyghur Times Staff

TOKYO — March 5, 2026 — Chinese state-affiliated media outlets have launched a series of attacks against Arfiya Eri, Japan’s parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs, using harsh language and personal insults in response to her criticism of China’s human rights atrocities against Uyghurs and practices in Hong Kong.

Chinese state media described Arfiya Eri with derogatory terms such as “poisonous thorn” and “ugly,” criticizing her for repeatedly raising concerns about the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghurs and the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong.

The Chinese Communist Party–linked newspaper Global Times released avideo describing Eri as “a convert whose fanaticism is off the charts,” accusing her of “sparing no effort to exploit her own ethnic identity,” and calling her “poison” and a “toxic element” within the Japanese cabinet. The video, posted on the social media platform Douyin, Chinese version of TikTok, received more than 20,000 likes within five days.

The Chinese media called Arfiya “疆毒” (“Jiang du,” meaning “Xinjiang poison”)—a term that echoes the similarly pronounced phrase “疆独” (“Jiang du,” short for “新疆独立分子,” meaning “Xinjiang separatist”), which Chinese authorities commonly use to label Uyghurs who oppose Chinese rule or advocate for independence.

Another article title “Uyghur heritage becomes a token of loyalty! Japanese female politician goes fanatically anti-China for career advancement, firmly in the far-right camp” published in Baidu also attacker her saying “”She uses her Xinjiang heritage as a disguise and her Japanese nationality as a shield, treating the spreading of rumors and slander about Xinjiang and attacks on China as a means of advancing her career. Fundamentally, she is a pro-China-opposition tool deliberately cultivated by the Japanese right wing.”and “”What the right wing values is precisely her ‘practicality’: using her ‘Uyghur background’ to create a false sense of trust, disguising political manipulation as ‘ethnic expression’ to mislead the international public; treating Xinjiang-related issues as a tool to align with the U.S. strategy of containing China, and continuously exerting pressure on China in diplomacy, trade, and human rights.”

Chinese news website Sina published an article on February 27 criticizing Eri’s political stance, accusing her of “using her identity as a shield to smear China over the Uyghur issue.” The article also questioned the intentions of the Japanese government in appointing her to a senior foreign affairs role.

Arfiya Eri (英利アルフィヤ), an LDP member and Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, advocates strongly for human rights, especially Uyghur issues in Xinjiang (East Turkistan to many Uyghurs). Born in 1988 in Kitakyushu to a Uyghur father and Uzbek mother from the region, she became a Japanese citizen in 1999. She studied at Georgetown University, researching Uyghur topics, and previously worked at the Bank of Japan and UN Secretariat in New York on political and peacebuilding affairs.

Japanese officials strongly condemned the remarks. During a press conference on March 4, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Toshihiro Kitamura said comments targeting Eri’s background were “extremely inappropriate” and expressed serious concern.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry has raised the issue with Chinese authorities through diplomatic channels, urging them to address the situation and prevent further attacks based on personal origin.

The controversy highlights growing tensions between Japan and China over human rights issues, particularly regarding the treatment of Uyghurs in Uyghur homeland and the political crackdown in Hong Kong.