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The Japan Times article The Japan Times article

In strongest appeal yet, China asks for public calm

BEIJING (AP) The Chinese government made its most emphatic appeal yet Wednesday to its public to end sometimes violent anti-Japan protests amid disputes over Tokyo's handling of its wartime history and its campaign for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

In comments reported by state television and newspapers, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing appealed for calm and said the public should avoid taking part in unauthorized demonstrations.

"Do not participate in unapproved marches and other activities and do not do anything that will affect social stability," Li was quoted as saying. "Express yourselves calmly, rationally and in an orderly fashion."

Li's appeal repeated official demands for calm issued since last week in government statements and by state newspapers. But it was the first time a member of the Chinese leadership has made the appeal in public, and Li's comments Tuesday were more widely publicized, appearing on state television and the front pages of some newspapers Wednesday.

Li gave no indication that China might apologize for letting rioters damage the Japanese Embassy and a consulate in demonstrations over the Security Council seat and complaints that new Japanese textbooks downplay wartime atrocities.

"Turn your patriotic passion into pragmatic activities such as jobs and diligent studying. Contribute yourself to the prosperity of the Chinese nation," Li said.

He said that improved relations between the two sides hinge on Japan taking a "correct view of history."

Japan's attitude toward its history had "deeply hurt the national feeling of the Chinese people and brought complexity to Sino-Japanese relations," Li said.

Despite the appeals, anti-Japan activists have posted calls on Web sites for more protests on the Labor Day holiday, May 1, and on May 4, the date of a 1919 student uprising over a treaty that ceded part of China to Japan.

However, Chinese nationalist Web sites have also called for protesters to avoid targeting Japanese citizens.

"We oppose the Japanese rightwingers and the politicians that support them, not the Japanese people," said a statement posted Tuesday on the Web site 9-18.com, which earlier had publicized details of protest plans. The site's name refers to the date of the Sept. 19, 1931, start of Japan's invasion of China.

"Friendly Japanese people are our friends and brothers in arms," the statement said.

On Saturday, police in Shanghai let 20,000 protesters break windows at the Japanese Consulate, vandalize Japanese restaurants and damage cars.

Another Web site, the Aiguozhe Patriotic Alliance Net, said violence would hurt the nationalist cause.

Some visitors to the sites, however, rejected appeals for calm.

"What we need now is blood, not logic," said one unsigned posting on the Aiguozhe site.

"I can perfectly understand those who beat and smashed," said another, also unsigned. "They weren't nearly as bad as your typical antiglobalization protester."

The Japan Times: April 21, 2005
(C) All rights reserved



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