(photo: VCG)

A university in Beijing expelled one of its Chinese students this week for frequently making extremely offensive remarks targeting China and Chinese people on social media, which had previously sparked outrage among Chinese netizens.

The University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) announced its decision to dismiss the postgraduate student, Ji Ziyue, on Monday, as he was found in late June to have repeatedly posted derogatory comments on Twitter, including comments calling Chinese people "pigs" and China "Zhi Na," a contemptuous name that was used by Japanese invaders during World War II.

UCAS expelled Ji from the school upon deciding that his remarks had violated the regulations and discipline criteria of both the country and university, damaged the interests and honor of the country, and severely hurt the national feelings [of Chinese people], read the statement published online by UCAS.

"We have zero tolerance on any behavior like Ji's," Wang Xiuquan, director of UCAS' publicity department, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Ji, after apologizing for his insults on June 27, threatened on Twitter that he would kill every patriotic Chinese netizen he saw - only two hours after UCAS made the statement on Monday.

His threat once again enraged Chinese netizens, of which many criticized that Ji showed no remorse for his wrongdoings, and his previous apology was no more than a fictitious act.

"It's ridiculous; Ji should pay for his nazi-like remarks," posted one Weibo user, "I hope the police can arrest and punish him by law."

Legal experts said Ji's threatening posts may have constituted a possible crime. He could be charged with the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble based on China's criminal law if judiciary organs define his remarks as a very serious situation, said lawyer and Certified Information Security Professional (CISP) holder Shi Yuhang.

"If not [defined as a serious situation], Ji can also be arrested and reprimanded by the police based on the Public Security Administration Punishment Law," Shi told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The first time that Ji caused public anger on Chinese social media was around June 27, when his numerous insults on Twitter were spread across Weibo. In these posts, Ji glamorized the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese invaders in 1937, and claimed that Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, where the brutal massacre took place, should be called "Japan's Nanjing."

"We're extremely shocked and indignant at these remarks," Wang recalled. "Ji's comments have gone against basic mortality and humanity, and have stood entirely apart from the university's talent cultivating principle; that is, paying equal attention to both ability and morality. One can never be a qualified talent without a good moral character."

UCAS made the decision to expel Ji under a legal and fair procedure, Wang said. The university had conducted a detailed investigation on Ji's remarks, and subsequently held a demonstration meeting and hearing meeting of which Ji himself both attended, he added.

On Weibo, Chinese netizens applauded the university's intolerance of its student's wrongdoings, with some users saying that Twitter, which claims to be strict on removing content that promotes violence and harm, should block Ji's account for his excessively insults and threatening comments.

Ji's account was shown that it "doesn't exist" on Twitter on Monday, the Global Times found. It remains unknown whether the account was deleted by Ji or shut down by Twitter according to its related rules.

Twitter should block accounts like Ji's that have so obviously spread hate speech, Shi said. "Nonetheless, no one knows how and to what level the company carries out its rules," he added.