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Ties at 30-year low, China tells Japan

A man holds a Chinese national flag beside a banner that reads ``Don't Buy Japanese Products'' at an anti-Japanese demonstration in Beijing on Saturday. PHOTO: EPA

China yesterday warned ties with Japan were at a 30-year low and reiterated it would not apologize for widespread protests, but Japan said it saw no need to change its policy despite a "very uncomfortable situation."

As Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura held a second day of talks in Beijing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei (武大偉) painted the relationship in somber colors.

"There are serious difficulties between China and Japan at the moment. It is the most difficult time since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1972," he told reporters, blaming Japan's refusal to face its past record of aggression.

In contrast, Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima attempted to put a more positive spin on relations as he focused on economics at a press conference in the Chinese capital.

He added, however, that Chinese protesters who damaged Japanese property had created a "very uncomfortable situation."

Ties between East Asia's two most powerful nations have rapidly approached a nadir after Japan approved a nationalist textbook that glossed over wartime atrocities.

They have been further ruffled by Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, three out of every four Japanese voters believe Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has not done enough to improve long-strained relations with China and South Korea, according to a newspaper poll published yesterday.

Seventy-six percent of respondents to a poll of about 1,000 voters the Mainichi Shimbun on Saturday and Sunday said Koizumi had not done enough to mend ties with Japan's neighbors, both of which were occupied by Japan before and during World War II.

In Tokyo, shots were fired yesterday at a Chinese language school, hitting a door but causing no injuries, in the latest apparent backlash against violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in China, police and media said.

A razor blade with an anonymous note complaining about the protests also was delivered by mail last week to the Chinese consulate in Fukuoka the Kyodo News agency reported.

Police said they found several bullet holes in the glass door at the entrance of the Japan-China Friendship Center. Investigators also found several bullets at the site. Kyodo said the shooting was believed to be linked to the protests. Nobody claimed responsibility.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed down 3.80 percent yesterday amid the escalating tensions, ending at 10,938.44 points -- its lowest point since Dec. 16.

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