Chinese oppose Japan seat

2005-04-09 22:24

Beijing - Thousands of demonstrators carrying Chinese flags and anti-Japanese banners marched through Beijing on Saturday in a nationalistic protest over Japan's handling of its wartime past and Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

At least 5 000 protesters brought traffic to a standstill in the capital's Haidian district, and sometimes clashed with police as they marched around historic Beijing University while thousands more looked on.

"Down with Japan," "Boycott Japanese Goods," and "Oppose a permanent seat for Japan on the UN Security Council," they shouted.

Protesters said at least 20 000 demonstrators had amassed for the rally.

Police refused to comment on the numbers or whether or not the march had been approved by the city, as required by law.

But except for some brief scuffles apparently to clear traffic, police seemed eager to accommodate protestors by redirecting traffic where possible and by blocking cars from entering the march route.

"Japan has no right to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council," protester Han Ming told reporters.

"It would be an insult to the world and to the UN if a country that refuses to recognise history is allowed a permanent seat."

Many of the protesters, most in their 30s or younger, said they were well aware of Beijing University's history of sparking nationwide protests, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.

A large group of police encircled the Japanese Embassy, as protesters arrived in smaller numbers. Another group remained at the starting point of the march, where they continued to shout slogans under the watchful eye of police.

On Friday, Japan's embassy in Beijing issued a warning to Japanese nationals living in China to avoid the protests and to take precautionary measures to ensure personal safety.

"Please behave cautiously and stay away from anti-Japanese rallies or protest if you witness one," the embassy said, urging nationals to be "careful not to be involved in unnecessary trouble."

Japan ignited a fresh row with China on Tuesday by authorizing for school use a nationalist-written history textbook that Beijing says glosses over Japanese wartime atrocities.

China's foreign ministry summoned Japan's envoy to Beijing to express its "indignation" at the approval of the textbooks. But Tokyo has hit back, saying Beijing was deliberately whipping up anti-Japanese sentiment.

The Asian neighbours have increasingly been at loggerheads over Japan's bloody World War II occupation of China and a dispute over scarce energy resources.

According to the Japanese foreign ministry the number of Japanese people living in China has soared in recent years, with Shanghai now having the third biggest Japanese expatriate population after New York and Los Angeles.

Bilateral trade has also skyrocketed with China overtaking the United States as Japan's top commercial partner in 2004, as Japanese firms eye China's vast labor pool and emerging consumer market.

- AFP