It was just a sports match.
No flags needed. No politics required.
Yet when Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto stepped up, his name was quietly left unannounced.
Not because he’s unknown — but because he used to be Chinese.
That silence said more than any insult ever could.
Sport is supposed to be the one place where talent outruns passports.
But here, even applause has borders.
When competition turns into insecurity,
and a scoreboard turns into a loyalty test —
that’s when you know the system is afraid of its own reflection.
Not anti-China.
Not anti-Japan.
Just pettiness.