Islamophobia is a potent factor, but not the whole story.

June 20 was “World Refugee Day,” but the following days witnessed strong debates over the refugee issue inside China. Many Chinese newspapers and websites highlighted the news of Yao Chen, who is a famous Chinese movie and TV star, visiting foreign refugees in both China and abroad.

Those reports about refugees were viewed by Chinese public as attempts to “create a public atmosphere,” or a sign that Chinese government is preparing to accept Middle East refugees (an assumption made largely because of the official background of Chinese news agencies).

Countless discussions and petitions denouncing Yao Chen and the possibility of China accepting refugees have emerged, not only on social media sites such as Weibo and WeChat, but also on several leading internet blogs. Public surveys show that a massive majority of Chinese (in some surveys, nearly 99 percent) strongly oppose the idea of settling Middle Eastern refugees, especially Muslim refugees, inside China.

This public fear of accepting refugees, especially Muslims, first and foremost reflects China’s increasing Islamophobia.

The people are not stupid, they see what is going on in Europe with Islamic terrorism:

….the continuing terrorism threat in Europe and increased reports of crimes such as rapes and murders committed by Syrian and Afghan refugees in Europe also stoked fear in the Chinese public.

An Arab refugee disses Chinese people:

In addition, negative stories about Middle Eastern refugees who have stayed in China made the Chinese public feel taken advantage of or offended. One such story recounts the example of a male Arab refugee who stayed in Beijing for seven years before he headed to Canada. He reportedly never worked or learned to speak Chinese and survived on his Chinese girlfriend’s monthly salary. When Yao Chen, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ goodwill ambassador in China, visited this refugee in Beijing and praised his Chinese girlfriend for being “hardworking,” the refugee replied: “My girlfriend should thank me because I teach her English!” Many Chinese took great offense to this “shameless” reaction.

The Chinese people who have had their own family size restricted want to take care of China’s poor people first (where have I heard that before!):

Although President Xi Jinping has created the Belt and Road initiative and increased China’s international influence, most Chinese still question whether China should help foreign states given the fact that there are still more than 500 million “underprivileged people” in China today.

America broke it (the Middle East), they should be responsible say the Chinese:

….many Chinese people believe it should be the United States, European states, or at least Arab states that resettle Middle Eastern refugees, based on the logic of “punishing” those who caused the problem in the first place. Chinese people believe the Middle Eastern refugee issue resulted from the civil wars “provoked” and “interfered” in by the West and other Middle Eastern states, and thus it should be their responsibility to take care of these refugees.