Anti-Japanese anger has flared up again in China, over Tokyo's perceived assertiveness in detaining Hong Kong activists and a visit by two Japanese politicians to a controversial war shrine, a leading activist said Thursday. "They (Japan) did a lot of things to hurt the Chinese people. We had put up with it endlessly," Tong Zhong, who leads the China Civil Federation for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, told dpa.
Wednesday's news that Japan had detained 14 activists who landed on one of the disputed islands - known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan - spurred the Chinese government to allow about 20 peope to hold a rare anti-Japanese protest outside the country's embassy in Beijing. As police carefully marshalled the protesters, these raised banners with messages including, "Declare war against Japan" and "Japan, get out of the Diaoyu." Small groups of protesters gathered in Beijing, Shanghai and several other cities on Thursday, state media said.
In the largest protest, more than 100 people marched in the eastern city of Binzhou, Shandong province, carrying banners urging people to "Boycott Japanese products" and "Defend the Diaoyu islands," official Xinhua news agency reported. "There has been a marked increase in tension since outspoken right-wing Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara released his plan in April to purchase the islands," the official China Daily said in a commentary on Thursday.
This tension was fuelled by the detention of the marine activists, days after Japan's transport and safety ministers visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honours several convicted war criminals among the country's two million war dead and is seen as a symbol of Japan's militarist past. China's reaction to Wednesday's events may appear excessive to outsiders, yet the government has to strike a delicate balance, under pressure from rising nationalism among China's 1.3 billion people.
"The Chinese public is wondering why the Diaoyu Islands, a part of China's territory, is occupied by Japan and why the (People's Liberation Army) doesn't send navy ships to escort the activists," commented the Global Times, owned by the Communist Party's official newspaper, People's Daily. Some people accused the government of being weak, the commentary said, adding that it was "a challenge to make the Chinese public understand the complexity of the Diaoyu issue."
Beijing had to "co-ordinate a willingness to protect the Diaoyu" islands with its strategic interests," it said. The newspaper said the government did not officially support the Diaoyu activists, although "their safe trip and eventual safe return are both the result of China's national strength." "No one dares to implicitly encourage that (landing on the islands)," Tong said.
"There are even some restraints," he added. "They will not act to impact the relations between China and Japan." "The long-term prospect is friendship if we can solve this issue," Tong said. "However, Japan always tries to take some advantage. Its maritime policies disregard international law." Tong said the Chinese government should "raise its level of diplomatic protest and show its military, economic and diplomatic deterrence." "Only deterrence can force Japan to stop any attempts to steal the Diaoyu islands," he said. The Communist Party normally prohibits all forms of organised protest but in recent years has tolerated some anti-Japanese protests by activists including students and Tong's movement.
Thousands of people joined anti-Japanese protests in at least six cities in September 2010, after Japan detained the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with two Japanese coastguard vessels. But some of those who joined the student-led marches in 2010, and the much larger anti-Japanese protests in 2005, used their rare freedom of assembly to raise other grievances.
A few carried banners to complain about property prices and even called for multi-party democracy, forcing the Communist Party's nervous leaders to order an end to the rallies. Tong said his organisation, which supported Wednesday's landing, had more than 100,000 online members and a leading group of about 100 activists. "Besides this, there are many young people who participate in defending the Diaoyu islands," he said. "Supporters register online and then participate in some activities, such as exhibitions, protests, and organising the landings," Tong said. Asked whether Thursday's anti-Japanese protests could grow, Tong said his group had no plans to mobilise more people. "We don't need to worry about what happens now as the internet will do (the rest)," he said.