Tokyo Indignant Over Anti-Japan Protests in China

The Japanese government Saturday strongly protested a new wave of anti-Japan demonstrations in China, saying Beijing should have prevented the violence.

“Even though information was available beforehand to infer that there would be a demonstration, nothing was done to prevent it ... and we strongly protest to the Chinese government,” Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It denounced the “destructive and violent actions” of the protesters and renewed its call for the Chinese government to prevent a recurrence.

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura was asked by reporters whether he planned to cancel a trip to Beijing today.

“That option is not out of the question, but at present we are proceeding as planned,” Machimura was quoted as saying by Akira Chiba, assistant press secretary at the ministry.

Anti-Japan protests erupted Saturday in at least three Chinese cities, including an event that drew 20,000 people in Shanghai. Protesters last week damaged the Japanese Embassy and Japanese businesses in Beijing and attacked three Japanese students.

The tensions have been fueled by lingering Chinese anger about Japan’s aggression in World War II as well as anxiety over Tokyo’s military and diplomatic ambitions and a territorial dispute.

Last week’s protests were triggered by Tokyo’s approval of a school history textbook that critics say whitewashes Japan’s wartime atrocities.

China said today that the Shanghai protest was sparked by “Japan’s wrong attitudes and actions on a series of issues such as its history of aggression,” the official New China News Agency said, citing Jiao Yang, a spokeswoman for Shanghai’s government. Jiao called for calm and asked residents not to participate in unauthorized demonstrations.

Saturday’s anti-Japan march in Shanghai was the first in China’s commercial capital. Although state newspapers said no one had received permission to hold a protest, authorities at one point posted a sign saying, “March route this way.”

Japan’s Foreign Ministry has issued warnings to its citizens in China, and Japanese businesses with large-scale operations in China are taking extra precautions.

The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported Saturday that Mazda Motor Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp. and Toshiba Corp. were canceling nonessential business trips to China. Toray Industries Inc., a manufacturer of synthetic fibers, has warned its China-based employees against wearing the company uniform in public or handing out business cards.