Anti-Japan protests erupted for a second day in China yesterday, as Tokyo demanded an apology and better protection for its citizens and interests a day after demonstrators smashed windows at Japan's embassy in Beijing.
Demonstrations against Japan have spread in China since Tokyo approved a new history textbook that critics say glosses over atrocities by Japan's military in the first half of the 20th century, including forcing tens of thousands of women into sex slavery. Beijing slammed the decision, calling the book "poison" for youthful minds.
Some 10,000 protesters surrounded a Japanese-run Jasco supermarket in Shenzhen on Sunday, said Ide Keiji, a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.
PHOTO: AP
They shouted "Boycott Japanese goods!" and some threw plastic bottles of mineral water at the store.
About 3,000 people marched toward the Japanese Consulate General in Guangzhou for a "spontaneous demonstration" and police were maintaining order, said a spokesman with the Guangzhou municipal government who refused to give his name when reached by telephone.
Police prevented demonstrators from getting near the consulate, Keiji said.
Hong Kong Cable Television showed a huge crowd of people protesting outside a shopping center in Guangzhou. They were trying to knock down police barriers set up around the center, and police were shoving the crowd as they struggled to contain it. A correspondent said protesters threw eggs at Japanese restaurants as they passed by.
On Saturday, about 1,000 protesters hurled rocks and broke windows at Japan's Embassy in Beijing, demanding a boycott of Japanese goods to oppose the new schoolbook. They also urged their government to prevent Tokyo from gaining a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
China said yesterday it had ordered anti-Japanese protesters in Beijing to stay "calm and sane" and mobilized extra police to maintain public order but Japanese officials complained that not enough was done.
When the protesters arrived at the embassy, security forces allowed people to throw stones, said Keiji.
"They let them do that, they didn't stop, they didn't arrest," he said.
Japan's ambassador to China, Anami Koreshige, called the incident "gravely regrettable" and called on Chinese authorities to protect Japanese citizens and businesses, as well as the embassy and other consulates in China, Keiji said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura also summoned China's ambassador yesterday to protest the rally and demand compensation for damages.
Keiji said Japan used diplomatic channels to "repeatedly request" protection of Japanese interests last week following demonstrations in Shenzhen and Chengdu and were given assurances from Beijing.
Saturday's protest outside the embassy came after a noisy rally by more than 6,000 people in the university district in Beijing's northwest, where some burned a Japanese flag.
Most protests in the Chinese capital are banned, but the government occasionally allows brief rallies by a few dozen people at a time outside the Japanese Embassy on key war anniversaries. Anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep among Chinese, with many resenting what they see as Tokyo's failure to atone for its wartime aggression.
Saturday's protest was the biggest in Beijing since 1999, when the US Embassy was besieged after NATO warplanes bombed Beijing's Embassy in Belgrade during the war over Kosovo.
A trade association for Chinese chain stores called last week for a boycott of beer, coffee and other products made by Japanese companies that it claims supported the textbook revision.
Protesters also oppose Tokyo's campaign for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council -- a status held now by only China, the US, Russia, Britain and France.
The Chinese government has not said whether it will oppose a Security Council seat for Japan. But Beijing regards Tokyo as its rival and could be unwilling to give up its status as the only Asian nation with a permanent council seat, which carries veto power over UN actions.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
RSS