Posted on 04/17/2005 6:30:46 AM PDT by Flavius
SHANGHAI/BEIJING - Shouting "Japanese invaders must die", thousands protested against Japan's wartime past in eastern China on Saturday, hurling rocks and bottles and burning Japanese flags at Tokyo's consulate in Shanghai.
However, with thousands of paramilitary police on the streets of Beijing and students warned against protesting, authorities appeared to have headed off a repeat of last weekend's demonstrations in the capital, which will host Japan's foreign minister on Sunday.
Police also barred demonstrations in southern Guangzhou and southwestern Chongqing, where thousands took to the streets last weekend.
Chinese have been protesting against textbooks they see as whitewashing Japan's wartime past, and against Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
In the third weekend of violent protests against Japan across China, thousands marched on the Japanese consulate in Shanghai, smashing windows with rocks, pelting it with paint bombs and attacking Japanese restaurants along the way.
Marchers set fire to the red-and-white Japanese flag. Some held posters carrying messages such as "Face Up to History", while another warned: "The anti-Japan war is not over yet".
A Japanese car was overturned by protesters, left covered with scratches and "Boycott Japan" scrawled on its side.
Hundreds of paramilitary police in full riot gear stood ready as police appealed for order on loud hailers. Isolated scuffles broke out and about a dozen protesters were dragged away.
During moments of relative calm, protesters and police alike were spotted buying lattes at a nearby coffee shop.
In the scenic eastern city of Hangzhou, about 10,000 protesters chanted anti-Japanese slogans, carried banners and handed out fliers calling for a boycott of Japanese goods, witnesses said. Journalists were told not to report on it and warned they would be sacked if they took part.
Billboards featuring Japanese electronics goods were covered up in Hangzhou as were restaurant signs in Beijing. Another 2,000 people marched in Tianjin city, near the capital.
In Beijing, hundreds of police in riot gear secured the ambassador's home in the northeast diplomatic district and the embassy in the southeast. Both were hit by rocks and bottles by thousands of protesters last weekend but spared this time around.
China appears keen to keep the capital quiet.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura is due to meet his counterpart Li Zhaoxing on Sunday, and aims to ensure disputes on everything from gas exploration in disputed waters to Japan's history do not hurt $US178 billion ($NZ249.75 billion) in annual trade between the economic powers.
Japan has pledged not to let the series of disputes hinder their broader relationship.
Many Chinese fume at what they see as Japan's failure to own up to atrocities committed during its occupation of China from 1931 to 1945. Beijing estimated that up to 35 million Chinese were killed or wounded by invading Japanese troops.
Anger flared after Tokyo's approval this month of a history textbook written by Japanese nationalist scholars that many in Asia say glosses over Japan's wartime past.
After last weekend's protests, the situation worsened on Wednesday after Japan announced it had started procedures to allocate rights for test-drilling in a disputed area of the East China Sea.
China has come under fire for tacitly encouraging the unrest, which started in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces early this month, spread to Beijing last week and, now, to nearby Tianjin and Shanghai and Hangzhou on the east coast.
Beijing denies it deliberately allowed things to spiral and pledged to protect Japanese businesses and nationals in China.
"I have to point out here that such allegations are totally groundless and a serious distortion of truth," State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan, a former foreign minister, said.
Tang blamed the tensions on repeated visits by Japanese leaders, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, to the Yasukuni shrine -- where convicted war criminals are honoured along with Japan's war dead.
Authorities appeared to be clamping down harder in Beijing to keep the capital peaceful during Machimura's visit. University students were warned by email not to protest.
The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong quoted unidentified sources as saying top anti-Japanese activists in Beijing were rounded up to prevent protests. One activist, Hu Jian, was put under house arrest on Friday, it said.
In Japan, Kyodo news agency said an envelope containing harmless starch-like white powder was sent to the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo on Friday. Private broadcaster TV Tokyo said on Saturday a caller had rung the embassy, threatening to blow it up. Police would not confirm either incident.
Bingo.
whenever the ethnic and religious masses of chinese stray too far from the reservation,
the chicoms bring them back into line by means of
nationalism.
DISAPPROVAL OF MOST-FAVORED-NATION TREATMENT FOR CHINA (House of Representatives - July 22, 1998)
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/congress/1998_cr/h980722-mfn2.htm
and
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/congress/1998_cr/h980722-mfn1.htm
SUN-TZU: "When you start a fire, be to windward of it..."
http://www.yuni.com/library/suntzu.htm
Maintaining normal trade relations with China - most favored nation status should continue - Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State - Transcript
US Department of State Dispatch, June, 1997
(a short snip):
Mr. Chairman, there is no greater opportunity -- or challenge -- in U.S. foreign policy today than to encourage China's integration as a fully responsible member of the international system. President Clinton's decision to extend most-favored-nation or normal trade relations with China reflects our commitment to this goal.
At the same time, the Administration fully shares many of the concerns expressed in Congress and elsewhere about some Chinese policies and practices. Principled criticism of Chinese actions that offend our values or run counter to our interests is vital -- because it demonstrate that the concerns we address through our diplomacy are deeply rooted in the convictions of the American people.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1584/is_n5_v8/ai_19660675
When the Japanese look up again after playing pachinko they'll see their world is changing.
This about Taiwan.
I have bookmarked this thread to read your links. Thanks for posting them.
When the demos first started , it looked like China was playing "Diplomatic shadow boxing"
Now, as the demos heat up, it looks like they are using "diplomatic shaolin kungfu". Shaolin is the "Hard or external" system of kungfu as opposed to the "soft" (subtle) systems like Tai-Chi, Paqua or even Wudan
Can they achieve their diplomatic objectives ?
The headlines are wrongly translated
The correct one should read
"The Japanese Invaders (of 1937-1945) deserved their deaths"
We need to find other places to purchase products from.
Its nuts to be pumping all of this money into China when they are doing the strategic things that they are doing. China is not our friend.
The things that China sells us can be made in many countries around the globe; we need to start finding them.
Sounds very Zin to me.
You meant to say "ZEN", of course
"The things that China sells us can be made in many countries"
Yeah....such as the USA.....why we shipped our jobs and industrial base/brick/mortar to them in such a massive and sudden way is stupid and even subversive......and soon we will no longer be able to deny those facts.
Of course, it would seem like the Japanese started to play the game called "Baiting the Dragon"
Now, maybe we are seeing the first part of China's response
The Beijing rent a mob
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.