Angry demonstrators attempted to storm the Japanese embassy in Beijing yesterday, state media said, as tens of thousands of people across China protested against Japan over a growing territorial dispute.
Riot police armed with batons and shields struggled to contain the swelling crowd outside the embassy, where witnesses said at least 2,000 people had gathered, some of them throwing stones and plastic bottles at the building.
A mob attempted to break into the embassy compound, but were stopped by armed police, Xinhua news agency said. It estimated the crowd at several thousand at its peak.
Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, there were online reports that protests were staged in at least a dozen cities across China, with Japanese-built cars and Japanese restaurants being attacked by angry crowds.
Japanese media estimated 40,000 people took part in the protests nationwide.
On China’s Sina Weibo (新浪微博), a microblog similar to Twitter, images were posted of protests in Chongqing and Kunming.
Photo: AFP
Rallies were reported in several other places, including Nanjing, Xian and Taiyuan.
Much of the information about the protests posted online appeared to have been removed by the afternoon by China’s army of Internet censors — suggesting that Beijing is aiming to stop the row from spiraling further out of control.
The protests also did not feature on regular news bulletins on the state-run China Central Television.
The rumbling territorial dispute reached a new level this week, when Japan announced that it had bought islands in the East China Sea that it administers and calls the Senkaku Islands. The islands are also claimed by Taiwan, where they are called the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), and China, where they are called the Diaoyu Islands.
Six Chinese ships sailed into waters around the archipelago on Friday, with Beijing saying they were there for “law enforcement,” leading Tokyo to summon the Chinese ambassador to protest what it insisted was a territorial incursion.
In the Chinese capital, where there have been large anti-Japan demonstrations for the past few days, roads were cordoned off and a helicopter hovered overhead, monitoring the embassy protest.
Nearby Japanese restaurants, which were all closed, appeared not to have been targeted by the angry crowds, but some protesters had draped Chinese flags over them.
Police monitored other demonstrations across China.
In Shanghai, police threw a security ring around the Japanese consulate, but allowed groups of protesters to approach the compound for short periods.
Scores waved Chinese flags, chanted slogans such as “Little Japanese” and held up signs insisting the islands were Chinese.
Police confiscated their signs and banners at the conclusion of the protest.
China and Japan are Asia’s two biggest economies with close trade and business ties. However, the relationship is often tense due to the territorial dispute and Chinese resentment over historical issues.
A Japanese diplomat said on Friday that Tokyo had issued a safety warning to its citizens in China after six “serious” cases of assault and harassment, all in Shanghai.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS