Posted on 04/18/2005 9:58:47 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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Anti-Japan protests raise doubts over Chinese government's control By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai Published: April 17 2005 16:53 | Last updated: April 17 2005 16:53 Large political protests in China are a rarity and even planning a march can lead to jail-time. As a result, the series of anti-Japan demonstrations in China over the last two weeks has prompted suspicion the government was working behind the scenes to promote the protests. Yet with the latest round of marches over the weekend, including an occasionally violent, 20,000-strong demonstration in Shanghai, the perception is growing that the anti-Japanese sentiment might be slipping out of the government's control. The authorities in Shanghai appeared to have taken steps on Thursday and Friday to prevent a large protest, including sending a text message to many mobile phone subscribers warning them against illegal demonstrations. Some local universities declared Saturday a normal day of classes in order to occupy the students. Yet the size of the protest came as a surprise to many, especially in a city often labelled as being politically passive. "This has got to make some people in the government very worried," said Michael Pettis, a professor at Beijing University. "There has been a lot of speculation that the government is behind the protests, but I have seen no strong evidence," he said. Those students of his who were Communist party members had not been taking part, he added. As well as the Shanghai demonstration, as many as 10,000 people are reported to have protested against Japan in the eastern city of Hangzhou and there was also a protest in Tianjin, all focusing on alleged distortions of history in Japanese textbooks. The marches also come days after an extraordinary riot in a south-eastern village in Zheijiang province, where locals protesting against environmental damage took control of the village from the police. Rural protests run into the thousands every year. However. this one has been widely discussed in China after a report first appeared last week in the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong English language daily newspaper. While analysts said it would be particularly worrying for the government if students were emboldened to join anti-Japanese marches because of well-publicised rural disputes, the protesters in Shanghai did not make any such link. In spite of the attempts to limit the demonstration in the preceding days, the relaxed approach of the Shanghai police suggested a more ambiguous attitude on the part of the authorities. During a 10-mile march through the city, protesters hurled eggs, plastic bottles and occasionally rocks at Japanese shops and restaurants and were rarely restrained by police, even when they broke windows. Japan's Foreign Ministry lodged a protest about the Shanghai demonstration. Some commentators have suggested that Beijing was using the demonstrations over Japan's imperial past to gain the moral high ground as the two countries increasingly challenge each other for regional diplomatic leadership. On a visit to India last week, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said Japan's attitude to its history was one of the reasons China would not support its bid to win a permanent seat on an expanded United Nations Security Council.
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http://news.ft.com/cms/s/73eb49a4-af55-11d9-bb33-00000e2511c8.html |
Ping!
They'll find that out for sure when that House of Cards, called the Chinese economy, collapses.
BTW I recommend the following for insight into the historical competition between forces of centralization and forces of cultic (for lack of a better term) rebellion.
It is the 2,000 year-old tradition. Between cultic rebellion and recentralization(the fall of an old dynasty and rise of a new one,) usually 2/3 of population were lost(Sui --> Tang, Yuan --> Ming, Ming --> Ching.) Sometimes, over 85%(late Han --> Chin.)
In the mind of Chinese regime, the latest prime suspect with cultic rebellion potential is the Falun Gong. Hence, the brutal suppression.
doubt it...or they'd all be lined up at the local stadium and shot, this is state sponsored, sort of like the daily "2 minute hate" in 1984...allows the "proles" to blow off some tension and steam...
The Chinese are directing this. They ARE in control.
I agree. This is all directed by the Chinese government.
Then Japan should be very afraid because that means the anti-Japanese asentiment the way the Greeks and Turks hate each other will be the focus of the emerging China.
good anology re: 1984.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand the seeming intensity here. Are these young crowds really all of a sudden massing and semi rioting this week over Japan's imperial/military record 50 years ago? And some textbook they dug up? Sounds like either the government is in a whole lot of control, or we're looking at a some sort of cultural propensity for exaggerated emotional hysteria.
A nation starts a war in one of two fashions. Either the government decides (for whatever reason) that a war is necessary and then convinces the people to go along or the people desire a war and install a government to meet their demands. In the former situation, the bellicose government may be appeased through diplomatic methods. In the latter situation, diplomacy will not work because it is nearly impossible to negotiate with a mob. If the people are not distracted from their desire to fight (usually by a better economy), then war is inevitable. When that happens, peace will occur only when one side is completely victorious.
You guys are funny sometimes. This idea is to make the Chinese government look bad, we all know it is a state sponsored protest.
You guys are funny sometimes. This idea is to make the Chinese government look bad, we all know it is a state sponsored protest.
Good point.
It is also possible that we have two factions in the regime who have different agenda. One try to restrain the protest, and the other to encourage it. Somebody alerted such a possibility to me.
That is an intersting point.
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