Japan's foreign ministry issued a new warning for its citizens traveling to China over the May Day holiday week that kicked off yesterday due to concerns that more anti-Japanese demonstrations could turn violent.
Angry protests have erupted in China in recent weeks over differing views of World War II history, natural gas exploration and Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, sending the two countries' relations to their lowest level in decades.
Tokyo has demanded an apology, but Beijing has blamed Japan's lack of remorse over its wartime atrocities for causing the troubles.
In the latest travel warning, issued late on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said that activists planned more protests on the Labor Day holiday tomorrow and on May 4, the date of a 1919 student uprising over a treaty that ceded part of China to Japan, in major cities including Shanghai, Nanjing and Chongqing.
"We worry that [activists] may take advantage of [such memorial events] and hold anti-Japanese demonstrations," the ministry said in a statement, posted on its Web site.
"If you witness or obtain information on anti-Japanese activities, please do not approach potential venues and use caution not to be involved in unnecessary trouble," the statement continued.
There were signs that anti-Japanese riots are gradually receding, but the possibilities for more riots could not be ruled out, the ministry said.
The ministry issued similar warnings earlier this month.
In Shanghai, which is eager to burnish its image as a cosmopolitan center for culture and trade, authorities have been holding meetings with parents at local schools, warning them not to let their children join any protests.
State-controlled newspapers in Shanghai have also been running daily commentaries calling for "social stability."
In the earlier demonstrations, rioters smashed windows at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and consulate in Shanghai and vandalized Japanese restaurants and company buildings.
The Chinese government has recently warned against unauthorized protests.
Meanwhile, Japanese business sentiment towards China remains unchanged despite the recent tensions, a senior Japanese official said in Singapore yesterday.
"Japanese business circles will understand the importance of relations between China and Japan," Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Heizo Takenaka said.
"As far as I know at this moment, Japanese business circles are very carefuly watching the situation but they [have] not changed any investment attitude, trade attitude. They are behaving in a very rational manner," Takenaka said.
He was speaking at a news conference after addressing the World Economic Forum's Asia Roundtable in Singapore.
Asked if angry Chinese protests over history textbooks that allegedly gloss over Tokyo's wartime atrocities had changed Japanese business sentiment toward China, Takenaka said: "I don't hear that kind of voice."
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