Posted on 09/15/2012 3:42:36 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Thousands of Chinese besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Saturday, hurling rocks, eggs and bottles as protests broke out in other major cities in China amid growing tension between Asia’s two biggest economies over a group of disputed islands.
Paramilitary police with shields and batons barricaded the embassy, holding back and occasionally fighting with slogan-chanting, flag-waving protesters who at times appeared to be trying to storm the building.
“Return our islands! Japanese devils get out!” some shouted. One of them held up a sign reading: “For the respect of the motherland, we must go to war with Japan.”
Protester Liu Gang, a migrant worker from the southern region of Guangxi, said: “We hate Japan. We’ve always hated Japan. Japan invaded China and killed a lot of Chinese. We will never forget.”
By early evening, police had succeeded in persuading some onlookers and would-be protesters to leave. Rings of anti-riot police stood guard in front of the embassy, apparently readying for a long night.
“I think it’s time for the Chinese government to get tougher. Look at what the ordinary people feel. The government should respond,” said one onlooker who came to protest and who gave his family name as Xue.
“I don’t mean war, but tougher action like sanctions. You can see how much Japan depends on our economy. Then don’t sell them any rare earths,” he said, referring to elements mined in China and key to advanced technologies for the defense, electronics and renewable-energy industries.
Japan said its foreign minister had cut short a visit to Australia and flown back to Tokyo.
The long-standing territorial dispute escalated dramatically on Friday when China sent six surveillance ships to a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, raising tension between the two countries to its highest level since 2010.
China, which has similar disputes elsewhere with other neighbors, was responding to Japan’s decision on Tuesday to buy the islands, which Tokyo calls the Senkaku and Beijing calls the Diaoyu, from a private Japanese owner despite Chinese warnings against doing so.
Sino-Japanese ties have long been plagued by China’s bitter memories of Japan’s military aggression in the 1930s and 1940s and present rivalry over resources - the islands are believed to be surrounded by energy-rich waters - and regional clout.
Relations between the two countries, whose business and trade ties have blossomed in recent years, chilled in 2010, after Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain whose boat collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessels near the islands.
In Shanghai, streets around the Japanese consulate, in the western part of town, were cordoned off. Hundreds of police let small groups of people in at a time to protest.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said big anti-Japan protests were also held in the Chinese cities of Xian, Changsha, Nanjing and Qingdao. Japanese media reported outbreaks of violence as people attacked Japanese restaurants and businesses.
“Armed police and police officers have been dispatched to protest sites to maintain order,” Xinhua said in an English-language report, the first mention of the unrest by mainstream Chinese media.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency said that the demonstrations were the biggest in China since the two countries normalised diplomatic relations in 1972.
Pictures on China’s popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo showed protests in other, smaller cities, and pictures of looting of shops and destruction of Japanese cars.
There have been sporadic protests around China throughout the week, although those in Beijing had been small and largely peaceful.
The latest dispute flared up last month after Japan detained a group of Chinese activists who had landed on the islands.
Diplomats say Tokyo and Beijing want to keep the row from escalating, but managing the situation can be difficult given that China is undergoing a leadership change, an election is looming in Japan and mutual mistrust runs deep.
China’s ruling Communist Party, which likes to project an image of stability, rarely permits protests to take place. While Beijing is under strong popular pressure to take a tough line with Japan, it will also be cautious not to let the protests spin out of control.
“I think the government is encouraging this,” said one protester, who gave his name as Uda Chen.
“They could have stopped all of us approaching when we were at the subway station. The government has taught us to be anti-Japanese at school, so if they want us to stop it would be like slapping their own mouths,” he added.
The influential Chinese tabloid, the Global Times, published by Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, said backing off was not an option for China.
“China should be confident about strategically overwhelming Japan,” it wrote, saying the Chinese military should “increase their preparation and intensify their deterrence” against Japan.
“China will not shy away if Japan chooses to resort to its military,” the widely read paper added.
Well, look who's driving...
:D
I don't know if Americans know how important this election really is, not only to them, but to the entire western world. An America that is weak economically or militarily is not good for world peace or the survival of the western way of life.
I think Obama knows this and is acting accordingly.
I doubt it. The Chinese kill separatists of every stripe. However, with the chaos the US is contending with post-9/11/12, they certainly could take advantage of our weakness to attack Japan in some form.
Those Japanese, how am I play golf, and joy-ride in my 747...bothersome people...
All they need is a leader and the ten nation confederacy will be formed. The ten nation confederacy is Islamic, which is the false religion.
People who read revelation think in terms of the present. It isnt, it is in Johns time. Five have fallen, one is, and one is to come. The anti-christ will come from the old Greek empire and gain his power in the old Babylonian-Persian areas. Leopard, Lion and Bear. The Leopard signified Greece, The Lion, Babylon, and the Bear-Persia.
Because people here charge above market prices to work.
“we are simply de-industrializing America”
What’s the alternative, self-suffuciency? Ask the Nazis his that turns out.
It is to cry. Pray November comes soon...cheers!
his = how
So Smooth Hawley was too much back then, and free trade is nit enough his. I wonder if you could explain how Washington knows how much protectionism is enough. It doesn’t seem to do too well with other Goldilicks problems. The Fed can never get inflation nor Congress the debt to GDP ratio “just right.”
his = now
Why does that keep happening?
Troubling development.
AQ has always been taking orders from China. The Chinese always use proxy forces. By paying AQ, the Chinese Myslims are not so “restless”.
AQ has always been taking orders from China. The Chinese always use proxy forces. By paying AQ, the Chinese Myslims are not so “restless”.
“..I know there’s one idiot on this thread..”
Civilized debate doesn’t require liberal techniques. There is a BIG difference between “protectionism” and sending jobs and wealth to our enemies. Free trade should be fair trade and absolutely nothing is fair with China.
“What’s the alternative, self-suffuciency? Ask the Nazis his that turns out.”
Poor comparison considering the US has an abundance of natural resources and Germany had zip. Not even enough farm land in the 30’s as I recall. It is ludicrous to expect Americans to serve industry as Chinese do. Borderline slave labor and in case you missed it the slave wages have been creeping higher and higher up the ladder. I get really pissed when some one tries to paint the trade situation with China in a rose color. We will either return our industrial might or we will fade away but make no mistake one of the 2 will happen. BTW if Germany had left Russia and Britain alone would have worked out great for them.
It did leave Britain alone, at least until Britain declared war on it. And no, it wouldn’t have ended so spectacularly. But it would have failed.
Even with our resources autarchy would produce what they call a “vampire economy,” in which we feed off preexisting capital until we die.
“borderline slave labor”
That’s there problem, not ours.
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