Japanese embassy in Beijing is stoned
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
(Filed: 11/04/2005)

China blamed the Tokyo government yesterday for a wave of anti-Japanese attacks that culminated in the stoning of Japan's embassy in Beijing.

Protesters hurled rocks and tiles over the heads of riot police, breaking windows during the protest on Saturday.

Yesterday, thousands of people marched in the southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, and called for a boycott of Japanese shops and imports.

The immediate trigger for the unrest was the Japanese education ministry's approval of a re-issued history textbook which, it is claimed, plays down atrocities committed by Japanese forces in China during the Second World War.

The political background, however, involves the possibility of Japan joining China as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and an increasing struggle for diplomatic dominance and control over energy resources in the Far East.

The Japanese foreign ministry summoned China's ambassador, Wang Yi, to demand an explanation. "We formally demanded China's apology and compensation," a spokesman said.

China called for protesters to be "calm and sane", but blamed Japan. "The Japanese side must earnestly and properly treat major issues that relate to Chinese people's feelings, such as the history of invasion against China," a spokesman said.

Public protests are rarely tolerated in major Chinese cities, even when they are in support of government policy, so the fact that police have allowed the marches to proceed is a sign of implicit approval. Nevertheless, the government is keen not to let them get out of hand. They were arranged through internet sites and e-mails by nationalistic student groups.

In Guangzhou, several thousand people marched on the Japanese consulate, throwing objects at Japanese-run shops and restaurants and burning Rising Sun flags. In Shenzhen, the crowd threw paint at Japanese shops.

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