China Marks War Anniversary

China allowed a brief protest outside the Japanese Embassy and sounded sirens in dozens of cities Saturday to mark the anniversary of Japan’s 1931 invasion amid official unease over Tokyo’s new diplomatic and military ambitions.

The official commemorations were the biggest to date and came at a time of rising anti-Japanese sentiment, stoked by a communist government that regards Japan as its rival for regional superpower status.

In Beijing, police let 20 protesters gather outside the Japanese Embassy. The demonstrators held banners opposing Tokyo’s bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and its claim to a disputed island chain.

“The Chinese people who have fully suffered the wounds of Japanese militarism must strain every nerve to be vigilant!” one protester, Zhang Jianyong, yelled through a loudspeaker.

Sirens sounded in a dozen cities in China’s northeast, the official New China News Agency reported. The government said similar events were planned in more than 100 cities.

The 1931 attack on the city of Shenyang led to the Japanese occupation of China’s northeast. That was followed in 1937 by the occupation of much of China, which lasted until Tokyo’s 1945 surrender at the end of World War II.

Many Chinese resent what they regard as Japan’s failure to atone for its aggression and millions of Chinese deaths.

Beijing has been alarmed by Tokyo’s recent campaign for a bigger presence on the world stage, even though Japan is China’s biggest trading partner and aid donor.