IMO this looks like the action of smooth brained rogue operator mad that PRC accounts for ~50% of Japanese international students, and thinks reddit style Tianamen copypasta would get a PRC netizen's computer to explode and get abducted by MSS, i.e. it's a hack job done by a racist idiot (of which there are many in JP). My understanding is University of Tokyo has one of the highest international enrollement, very PRC friendly as well from what I hear.
Quick search online it has 4968 international students, 3232 is PRC, or 65%, substantially higer than JP average, which is way more than I thought.
Aren't the Chinese models competitive?
> thinks reddit style Tianamen copypasta would get a PRC netizen's computer to explode and get abducted by MSS
Bit of a weird exaggeration. As the article states, it was likely simply to prevent them from applying, and to my knowledge this is indeed a successful way to do so as it does get the page to be blocked by the GFW, no?
Geopolitically being overt you want to reduce the impact of Chinese applications and .. I dunno maintain access for other communities? That would have been very confronting and invited overt Chinese state action. This way... they made the Chinese state apply back pressure for them.
Maybe it's short sighted, engagement is the best path to changing oppositional views in the long term.