More "spontaneous" Chinese protests against Japan.
Anti-Japanese protests have erupted in China for the second day running, spreading from Beijing to the southern province of Guangdong. The rallies follow a 10,000-strong march in the Chinese capital - the city's biggest protest since 1999.At least 3,000 people demonstrated at the Japanese consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou on Sunday, shouting for a boycott of Japanese goods and burning Japanese flags. A Japanese diplomat said some windows in the consulate were broken.
Hong Kong cable television showed protesters with Chinese flags and banners reading "down with Japanese militarism".
A city hall spokesman said the "spontaneous demonstration" was peaceful and under control. China says it has mobilised a huge police force to maintain order.
Thousands more marched in Shenzhen, also in the southern Guangdong province, and threw objects at Japanese-owned businesses.
On Saturday, Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador to demand a formal apology, after windows at its embassy in Beijing were broken during a demonstration, despite the presence of Chinese police. The ambassador, Wang Yi, said Beijing did not condone the protests.
However, correspondents say the fact that Saturday's demonstration took place at all signals tacit acceptance, if not approval, by the authorities.
It doesn't seem like mere coincidence that this is happening just as the United Nations is considering changes that might include a Japan seat on the Security Council. Note this report from Voice of America.
Bill Breer, Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. says, “China kind of likes being the only permanent [Asian] representative on the Security Council, I think. So it's going to be a tough battle to get China's acquiescence on this issue."Mr. Breer says China remains angry over what it sees as Japan's failure to apologize for its World War Two atrocities. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine--which includes Japanese war criminals among its honored war dead--infuriate Beijing.
The Chinese--along with the South Koreans--are also angered by new Japanese history textbooks. Critics say the books whitewash Japan's militaristic past and 1937 mass murders in the Chinese city, Nanjing--events that became known as the "Rape of Nanking."
"There's a lot of denial in Japan of that, but everybody knows of the so-called Rape of Nanking and the Chinese remember that. They not only remember it but they stimulate memory of that in their education system," says Bill Breer.
Whatever the historical roots of their conflict, this is more about the future of Asia than the past -- China is moving slowly but inexorably forward in a proactive strategy of regional dominance and swelling global power. Hobbling Japan, China's only regional competitor, is key.
Posted by Alan at April 10, 2005 11:23 AM