20101019 Kan regrets protests in China

Kan regrets protests in China

REACTIONARY:Japanese media claimed that the anti-Japan protests around China were a reaction to an angry protest against China that was held in Tokyo on Saturday

AFP, TOKYO

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan voiced regret yesterday over a wave of angry anti-Japanese protests in China over the weekend, sparked by a tense territorial row between the Asian economic giants.

Thousands of mostly young Chinese protesters took to the streets of at least four cities to assert China’s claim to a disputed island chain where a maritime incident six weeks ago kicked off the heated diplomatic spat.

In protests apparently organized on the Internet and via cellphone text messages following an anti-Chinese rally in Tokyo on Saturday, thousands of protesters took to the streets, calling for a boycott of Japanese goods.

In several of the rallies, demonstrators smashed windows of Japanese businesses, including a Panasonic outlet and an Isetan department store, and attacked Japanese brand cars, news -reports in Japan said.

The rallies, which Chinese authorities struggled to contain, were the largest since 2005, when then-Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi stoked fury by visiting the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo.

Asia’s two biggest economies and traditional rivals have been embroiled in the worst feud in years after Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain near the disputed islands almost six weeks ago, although it later released him.

The chain of uninhabited islands, called Senkaku in Japanese, lie between Japan’s Okinawa island and Taiwan, in a part of the East China Sea with rich fishing grounds and thought to contain energy deposits. The islands are also claimed by Taiwan, which calls them the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).

China has issued a barrage of protests and angry editorials in its state media over the row, while also taking punitive economic steps, including halting the export of rare earths minerals crucial for high-tech products.

Beijing and Tokyo have since sought to repair their relationship, and possibly hold a summit later this month, but the weekend protests in both countries showed that the incident has stirred strong nationalistic passions.