China's government yesterday appealed to its public to end fierce protests over Japan's handling of its wartime history and its campaign for a permanent UN Security Council seat, while the UN chief urged the two nations to hold a summit to defuse their row.
In comments widely reported yesterday by state television and newspapers, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
"Express yourselves calmly, rationally and in an orderly fashion," Li was quoted as saying.
"Do not participate in unapproved marches and other activities and do not do anything that will affect social stability," he reportedly said.
Anti-Japanese demonstrations have erupted in several Chinese cities in recent weeks over a textbook approved by Japan that critics say whitewashes the country's past. The protesters, who also oppose Tokyo's Security Council bid, have smashed windows of Japan's diplomatic missions and damaged Japanese restaurants.
China has declined Japanese demands to apologize and pay compensation, saying Japan sparked the protests by offending the Chinese people and that Tokyo should be the one to apologize.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was heading to Indonesia to attend this week's Asia-Africa summit, urged Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to hold a one-on-one meeting at the summit over the weekend.
"I will see the leaders individually, but I would encourage them to meet to discuss their differences on this issue," Annan said as he prepared to fly to Jakarta.
"Both of them will be there, and I think it offers an opportunity, and hopefully they will take advantage," he said.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry official urged Japan yesterday to help create "good conditions" for the possible summit, but wouldn't say what Beijing wants Tokyo to do.
"We always believe it is highly significant for China and Japan to maintain contacts and dialogues, particularly between leaders of the two sides," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity at a briefing arranged by the ministry.
"However, both sides need to make efforts to bring about an appropriate atmosphere and good conditions for that to happen," he said.
Meanwhile, Japanese lawmakers were planning a visit tomorrow to a Tokyo shrine that critics say glorifies the country's militarist past. The visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, was bound to further infuriate the Chinese public.
China's state-run press called such visits "a step backwards."
"We respect the Japanese culture in which Japanese pay homage to those who died for their country," said an editorial yesterday in the China Daily.
"But our understanding for officials' shrine visits is running out, as war criminals are honored in this shrine," the editorial said.
The editorial also accused Japan of pouring "fuel on the flames of Chinese anger" by recently approving a school textbook that "denies and beautifies war crimes" and plans to give drilling rights to Japanese companies looking to explore disputed areas of the East China Sea.
Li's appeal for calm was a reiteration of demands issued by the government since last week. But it was the first time a member of the Chinese leadership has made the appeal in public and Li's comments late on Tuesday were more widely publicized, appearing on state television and the front pages of some newspapers yesterday.
Li said that improved relations between the two sides hinge on Japan taking a "correct view of history."
Japan's attitude toward its history had "deeply hurt the national feeling of the Chinese people and brought complexity to Sino-Japanese relations," Li said.
Despite the appeals, anti-Japanese activists have posted calls on Web sites for more protests on the Labor Day holiday, May 1, and on May 4 -- the date of a 1919 student uprising over a treaty that ceded part of China to Japan.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS