A dispute over school textbooks escalated yesterday as Tokyo accused Beijing of whipping up anti-Japanese sentiment and the South Korean government summoned the Japanese ambassador over the issue.
Japan's decision on Tuesday to approve a textbook which both China and South Korea say glosses over Japanese wartime atrocities has opened old wounds.
The Japanese ambassador to Seoul was summoned yesterday to receive South Korea's protest over the textbook, one day after the ambassador in Beijing was called in to hear a similar protest from the Chinese government.
PHOTO: AFP
Koreshige Anami, Japan's envoy to Beijing, responded to the protest with robust criticism of the Chinese government.
"Anami expressed concern about recent anti-Japanese demonstrations in various cities in China," an embassy spokesman said. "He asked the Chinese authorities to take necessary measures to protect Japanese people and companies' activities in China.
"He observed that patriotic education in China may have caused some anti-Japanese feelings among young Chinese people. Anami asked the Chinese government to pay full attention to this aspect," the spokesman said.
China's state-controlled media reacted furiously, accusing Japan of not being able to face up to its past.
"One thing is for sure, and that is a country's prestige is not built on subterfuge, but its acknowledgment of the past," the China Daily said in an editorial, which called the textbook a "political provocation."
"Without a consensus on the history issue and other disputes, the Asian peoples cannot place their trust in Japan's desire to play a bigger role in world affairs," it said.
Local academics warned that the Sino-Japanese row may spill over into trade.
Some Chinese shops have stopped selling selected Japanese goods in protest, an industry official confirmed yesterday. It was not clear how many stores had stopped selling Japanese products, but one association official said the boycott campaign had begun in Shanghai and the northeastern city of Shenyang.
In recent days, crowds opposed to Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council have gathered outside Japanese-owned department stores and supermarkets in several Chinese cities.
In some instances, they have smashed windows or tried to hoist the Chinese flag.
Anami defended Japan's decision to approve the textbook, one of eight that can be used to instruct students aged 13 to 15 from April next year, saying it was a question of freedom of expression.
"Textbooks for Japanese schools are not made by the government or government organizations, but by private companies," the spokesman said, citing Anami. "In Japan we ensure freedom of speech and publication. So if draft textbooks submitted by publishing companies to the ministry of education fulfill certain criteria, they are allowed to be published."
The book avoids the word "invasion" when it refers to Japan's military occupation of other Asian countries in the first half of the 20th century.
It also refers to the 1937 Nanjing Massacre -- in which some historians say at least 300,000 Chinese civilians were slaughtered by Japanese troops -- as an "incident" in which "many" Chinese were killed.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS