Chinese protesters target textbook

[PERICLES]

Chinese protesters target textbook

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/09/china.japan.protest.ap/china.protest.ap.jpg
Chinese protesters last week targeted a Japanese store in Chengdu.


BEIJING, China (AP) -- Chanting "Down with Japan," more than 6,000 Chinese protesters held a noisy but peaceful rally Saturday demanding a boycott of Japanese goods to oppose new textbooks that critics say gloss over Tokyo's wartime atrocities.

Scores of unarmed police watched but didn't intervene as the crowd of mostly young men burned a Japanese flag and marched through the university district in the Chinese capital's northwest.

The protest was the biggest in the tightly controlled Chinese capital since 1999, when the U.S. Embassy was besieged after NATO warplanes bombed Beijing's Embassy in Belgrade during the war over Kosovo.

Waving Chinese flags and singing the national anthem, marchers carried signs saying "Protest new Japanese textbooks," a reference to schoolbooks that critics say whitewash wartime aggression against China. Spectators clapped and cheered as the marchers passed.

"Boycott Japanese goods!" the protesters chanted. "Long live China!"

"I think China should be more firm," said protester James Liu, 25, an engineer who works for a French company. "This is a good way to pass our voice to the government and to the Japanese people."

Others called for the rejection of Tokyo's campaign for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council -- a status held now by only China, the United States, Russia, Britain and France. Referring to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, some protesters chanted, "Koizumi is a dog! Dogs are no good!"

China's government hasn't said whether it will oppose a Security Council seat for Japan. But Beijing regards Tokyo as its rival and could be unwilling to give up its status as the only Asian nation with a permanent council seat, which carries veto power over U.N. actions.

Public anger has mounted in China and South Korea recently over new Japanese history textbooks that critics say gloss over offenses including mass sex slavery of Asian women by Japan's military.

A trade association for Chinese chain stores called last week for a boycott of beer, coffee and other products made by Japanese companies that it claims supported the textbook revision.

Protesters reportedly smashed windows of a Japanese-owned department store last weekend in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

Meanwhile, a group of Chinese nationalists claim to have gathered millions of signatures on an online petition calling for Tokyo to be denied a permanent Security Council seat.

Despite the criticism, Japan approved the history books on Tuesday for use in schools beginning in April 2006.

In response, the Foreign Ministry issued a stinging statement calling the new textbooks "poison for Japan's younger generations."

The ministry said it summoned Japan's ambassador to Beijing to demand that Tokyo view history "correctly."

The Chinese government earlier appealed to Japan to "take very seriously the calls for justice from its Asian neighbors" in deciding whether to use the new textbooks.

Most protests in the Chinese capital are banned, but the government occasionally allows brief protests by a few dozen people at a time outside Japan's Embassy in Beijing on key war anniversaries.

Word of the protest Saturday spread in advance through e-mail and mobile phone messages by Chinese nationalist groups.

On Saturday, some marchers in Beijing threw small stones at a Japanese restaurant as they passed, but no damage was done and they were restrained by other protesters. There was no other vandalism.

"It's true that Japanese investment helps China," said Liu, the engineer. "But we don't like it when they change their history books. That's why we're here."

A crewcut middle-aged man waved a Chinese flag from the window of an apartment near the start of the march.

Members of the crowd roared their approval as he shook his fist in the air, with the national anthem playing repeatedly from a speaker behind him.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/09/china.japan.protest.ap/index.html

[malsey]

Thats the way politics should be down. Japanese be proud to be Japanese, and Chinese proud to be Chinese. If they won't interfere with each other they will rule the world in a few years.

Unfortunetly our beautiful Europe is being betrayed day after day from our politicians. We ill end the worse block in the World, probably even worse then Africa in a few decades.

[Marco Polo]

Spot on Malsey,

If everyone took care of their own we wouldnt be having these problems that we have in the world.

[PERICLES]

Beijing rejects Tokyo demand for apology

Thousands march in Chinese demonstrations against Japan

Sunday, April 17, 2005 Posted: 1444 GMT (2244 HKT)

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China on Sunday rebuffed Japanese demands for an apology after stone-throwing protesters damaged the Japanese Embassy and a consulate in demonstrations over Tokyo's wartime history and campaign for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

"The Chinese government has never done anything that wronged the Japanese people," Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told his visiting Japanese counterpart as China allowed new demonstrations in at least six cities.

Li said Japan, instead, was to blame for "a series of things that have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" over issues such as relations with rival Taiwan and "the subject of history" -- a reference to Japanese school textbooks that critics say minimize World War II atrocities.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura appealed to Li to protect Tokyo's diplomats and citizens as his government denounced violence on Saturday in Shanghai, where police allowed 20,000 rioters to break windows and damage restaurants and cars.

"I wish the Chinese government would sincerely handle this matter under international regulations," Machimura said, apparently referring to treaties that obligate Beijing to protect diplomatic missions.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted Machimura as saying earlier Sunday in Tokyo that he would warn Beijing that relations, "including on the economic front, could decline to a serious state."

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have soured amid disagreements over the Security Council, gas resources in disputed seas and the new schoolbooks that critics say gloss over Japan's abuses such as germ warfare and sex slavery during its conquest of Asia.

In the southern cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, thousands of protesters called for a boycott of Japanese goods, a Japanese diplomat said. Smaller, peaceful rallies were held in nearby Dongguan and Zhuhai and in Chengdu in the west.

In Shenyang in the northeast, about 1,000 protesters marched to the Japanese Consulate but were kept away by police. The crowd threw stones but didn't break windows, said a consulate official, Shoji Dai. He said the protest ended in about 90 minutes.

In Shenzhen, two groups -- one with up to 10,000 people -- marched past a Japanese-owned Jusco department store calling for a boycott of Japanese goods, said Chiharu Tsuruoka, Japan's vice consul general in Guangzhou.

Another 500 protesters were outside another Jusco branch in Guangzhou, Tsuruoka said.

Earlier Sunday, police tried to block a planned protest in Guangzhou, shooing passers-by away from a stadium where a march was to start. Police stood guard outside Japan's Guangzhou Consulate.

Some have suggested that Beijing permitted earlier protests to undermine Tokyo's Security Council campaign. Beijing regards Tokyo as a rival for regional dominance, and is unlikely to want to give up its status as the only Asian government with a permanent seat on the U.N. council.

But Beijing called last week for calm, apparently afraid of causing more damage to relations with Tokyo or encouraging others to take to the streets to demonstrate against corruption or demand political reforms.

The Communist Party newspaper People's Daily called in a front-page editorial Sunday for the public to "maintain social stability."

It didn't mention the protests, but said "frictions and problems of various kinds ... can only be settled in an orderly manner by abiding by the law and with a sober mind."

Japan's trade minister warned Sunday that the violence would hurt China's reputation and economy.

"People around the world are wondering whether it's all right to pursue economic activity (in China)," Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa was quoted as saying by Japan's Kyodo News agency.

On Saturday, thousands of police watched as demonstrators -- some shouting "Kill the Japanese!" -- threw stones, eggs and plastic bottles and broke windows at the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai. The crowd vandalized Japanese restaurants and damaged Japanese-made cars.

Shanghai government spokeswoman Jiao Yang blamed Japan for the violence, saying the demonstrations were prompted by "Japan's wrong attitudes and actions on a series of issues such as its history of aggression," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

On Sunday, the consulate was ringed by hundreds of police, some armed with shields, but there was no sign of new protests. The consulate's walls were splattered blue and black from paint bombs.

Many Chinese believe Japan has never truly shown remorse for atrocities committed during its pre-World War II invasion of China.

Thousands of people held peaceful protests Saturday in Hangzhou and Tianjin. In Beijing, hundreds of police blanketed Tiananmen Square in the heart of the capital to block a planned demonstration.


http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/17/china.japan.ap/index.html

[PERICLES]

Some of the photos:


http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/17/china.japan.ap/story.china.protest.scuffle.jpg

Protesters scuffle with police near a Japanese store in Shenzhen.


http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/17/china.japan.ap/story.china.police.ap.jpg

Chinese military police guard the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/17/china.japan.ap/story.shanghai.rally.jpg
Thousands of anti-Japanese protesters march in Shanghai.
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/17/china.japan.ap/story.china.japan.fued.jpg

A Chinese soldier stands outside a bookstore in Beijing.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/world/0504/gallery.china.protests/01.jpg

Thousands of protesters in Shanghai carry banners denouncing Japan on Saturday. Despite official warnings, protests went on, sometimes escalating into attacks on Japanese businesses

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/world/0504/gallery.china.protests/08.jpg


A young boy throws a paint ball at the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai.


http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/world/0504/gallery.china.protests/10.jpg

An angry demonstrator destroys the sign on a Japanese restaurant.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/world/0504/gallery.china.protests/07.jpg

A demonstrator confronts a military police officer.



http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/world/0504/gallery.china.protests/09.jpg

Employees of a Shanghai Japanese restaurant tend to the front door, which was damaged by protesters.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/world/0504/gallery.china.protests/06.jpg


A Shanghai military police officer’s helmet is plastered with anti-Japanese stickers, stuck there by protesters.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/world/0504/gallery.china.protests/02.jpg


Protesters are incensed by a new Japanese history textbook that, they say, whitewashes Japanese atrocities in China during World War II.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/17/china.japan.ap/index.html

It seems pretty obvious that these two giants will inevitably clash in the near future.

[PERICLES]

Long history of friction



Monday, April 11, 2005 Posted: 0602 GMT (1402 HKT)


var clickExpire = "-1";http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/1.gifhttp://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/11/china.japan.background/story.protestsun.ap.jpg Protesters wave anti-Japan slogans and wave Chinese flags in Shenzhen.



CNN) -- For decades Japan and its closest neighbors have tussled over what lessons should be learnt from World War II.
In recent days, anti-Japanese violence in China has again put the spotlight on what countries such as China and South Korea say is Japan's whitewashing of its wartime activities.

Those two countries, which still carry the scars of Japanese aggression, want to ensure the legacy of the war is respected in Japan's history textbooks.

Japan's leaders have so far apologized to China on no fewer than 17 occasions since the two nations restored diplomatic ties in 1972, according to The Economist Global Agenda.

But ties frayed after Japan recently approved a new edition of a 2001 textbook that critics say downplays the 1937 "Nanjing massacre" in China, ignores the sexual slavery of women for Japanese soldiers, and presents Japanese actions as aimed at liberating other Asian countries.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has also angered Asian nations by making annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, which honors Japan's war dead including its executed war criminals.

Koizumi visited China in 2001, but Beijing has refused to host further visits because of his visits to Yasukuni.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met Koizumi in Vientiane in November 2004 on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN get-together, but said at the time that the shrine visits were the "major obstacle" hindering Sino-Japanese ties.

Those ties were further upset in December, when Japan revised its defense guidelines to list China for the first time as a potential threat.

Japanese comments about Taiwan as a regional security concern have also upset China, which insists Taiwan is a domestic issue.

In South Korea, there have been street protests and lawsuits in recent years over the sufferings of Korean "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery during Japan's harsh 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula.

Another flashpoint is territorial disputes, including economic resource issues involving China, Japan and Vietnam, and the long-standing tussle between South Korea and Japan over a group of islets known as Takeshima in Japan and Tokto in Korea.

This dispute flared up recently, leading to protests in Seoul. South Korea is also upset that a civics textbook approved in early April reiterated Japan's claim to the islands.

Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council has sparked some concern in Asia. Millions of Chinese have already signed an online petition against such a move.

Analysts say domestic political agendas, including a rising sense of nationalism, are behind some of the protests in China and South Korea, and in Japan's demand for an apology for the recent violence.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/11/china.japan.background/index.html

[malsey]

Well Japanese can say they lost all the business in China. The chinese will do exactly as the Germans did to the Jews when Adolf took power.

As we know Japan is one of the best economies in the world. However Condaliza Rice visited China/Japan few weeks ago. Were the Jews behind this book??? to distabilize again that region??

[PERICLES]

Well Japanese can say they lost all the business in China. The chinese will do exactly as the Germans did to the Jews when Adolf took power.

As we know Japan is one of the best economies in the world. However Condaliza Rice visited China/Japan few weeks ago. Were the Jews behind this book??? to distabilize again that region??

Min meta Congoliza Rice saret Lhudija? :D

[Marco Polo]

condoliza's mentor was jewish. she is well indoctrinated with neocon (jewish) principles as is most of the executive of the US government. (the executive is the presidential body)

[Cikku]

ALL demonstrations in China, supposed to be in relation to the new Japanese history text book were STATE SPONSORED.

If the Government in China says NO DEMONSTRATIONS, then NO DEMONSTRATIONS take place -- end of story ! Remember Tiananmen Square on June 4th. 1989 ??

SOME comments re the pictures by CNN posted by PERICLES:

Protesters scuffle with police near a Japanese store in Shenzhen. In China you DON'T scuffle with the police !

A demonstrator confronts a military police officer. YEAH SURE and I'm the Queen of Sheba !

A Shanghai military police officer’s helmet is plastered with anti-Japanese stickers, stuck there by protesters. AGAIN THIS picture shows the ORDERS the police and Army had !

I attributed the pictures to CNN as it was them that published these, but then again I call the CNN the COMMUNIST NEWS NETWORK as it has one of the largest history of distorted and inaccurate stories ever.

Furthermore this post is being made solely for the sake of accuracy.

[Marco Polo]

you are right cikku. who can stand up to china nowadays? this is there way of asserting dominance over asia.

We need eurasia as soon as possible and then lots of babies!

[Admin]

Well China and Japan have been snarling at each other's throats for ages. Perhaps China has reasons to bring things to a head?

[etoile noir]

Cikku, most of these people weren't even born when the events of tiennamen square tok place - maybe we ought to find a link and show them.

and although i know you're not the queen of sheba, i find that there are far too many chinese people rebelling against the japs for them to be "organised" in the sense of the word. i feel its more a case of "gee we can misbehave and not get killed for it" so out they go. it's probably their equivalent of entertainment .... and who would blame them? state allowed civilised [not civil] disobedience is party time to that bunch!

[Cikku]

Sorry, you are right again EN ! But HOLY COWS !! Just do a search on Google and you have THOUSANDS of pages !!

WARNING: JUST BECAUSE IT IS ON THE INTERNET DOES NOT MEAN IT'S TRUE !!

[Marco Polo]

etoile:

What about the media, doesnt china have full control of it? cant it be used to encourage protests? wouldnt a few government agents disguised as protestors do the job for mob incitement?

[PERICLES]

SOME comments re the pictures by CNN posted by PERICLES:

The comments are also of the CNN and not mine. I just copied and pasted what I found on CNN.

Personally China and Japan can do what the hell they want as long as they do not involve Europe.

[Cikku]

The comments are also of the CNN and not mine. I just copied and pasted what I found on CNN. -- Originally Posted by PERICLES

Of course they are PERICLES ! I did not imply in any way whatsoever that it was otherwise.

[Marco Polo]

The comments are also of the CNN and not mine. I just copied and pasted what I found on CNN.

Personally China and Japan can do what the hell they want as long as they do not involve Europe.

wrong attitude! we cant afford any nation to get too strong. you really want war with a MODERN army (in the near future) the size of china's?

[PERICLES]

wrong attitude! we cant afford any nation to get too strong. you really want war with a MODERN army (in the near future) the size of china's?

I said that if they want to fight each other so be it as long as they do not involve us. ;)

Let's face it even though the Chinese are by far much larger than Japan they are still lag behind in technology. Japan's air and naval forces are by far superior to China's. The only advantage China has is the nukes.

[Highlander]

I said that if they want to fight each other so be it as long as they do not involve us. ;)

Let's face it even though the Chinese are by far much larger than Japan they are still lag behind in technology. Japan's air and naval forces are by far superior to China's. The only advantage China has is the nukes.

which the japs can build easily.. and will after these incidents.

[PERICLES]

which the japs can build easily.. and will after these incidents.

Exactly. The Japs, the Germans, the Italians, the Australians, the Canadians...etc do not have nukes for the simple reason that they never wanted to build them. If Pakistan and India managed to build them everyone can.

[malsey]

Well its about time, Europe starts up a nuclear plan. If we are in a war, we will need them to defend ourselves. We are bloody idiots as usual. First we have to sacrifice millions of europeans, then we act.

[PERICLES]

Well its about time, Europe starts up a nuclear plan. If we are in a war, we will need them to defend ourselves. We are bloody idiots as usual. First we have to sacrifice millions of europeans, then we act.

France, UK and Russia are already nuclear powers mals.

[Highlander]

France, UK and Russia are already nuclear powers mals.

oh please don't include russia in europeans.

time for germany to build them and maybe other big states such as Poland and Spain. Ukraine too maybe.

[Marco Polo]

France, UK and Russia are already nuclear powers mals.

the UK's nukes are controled by america so count them out

[etoile noir]

and again you all forget the greatest threat - kim jong il

[PERICLES]

oh please don't include russia in europeans.

time for germany to build them and maybe other big states such as Poland and Spain. Ukraine too maybe.

Why not? Communism (the divider of Europe) died and we must include Russia in Europe.

[Marco Polo]

and again you all forget the greatest threat - kim jong il

no one forgets north korea, but he will take the south or japan and not us.

[PERICLES]

the UK's nukes are controled by america so count them out

You're joking?? :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Marco Polo]

You're joking?? :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

no im serious. they cant operate without american go ahead. Thats thatcher for you!

[Highlander]

Why not? Communism (the divider of Europe) died and we must include Russia in Europe.

nothing to do with communism but with culture. russians don't feel europeans, they just want to dominate europe and they already tried with communism. they may change the system but the target is still the same one.

did you check the BNP website? they too got an imperium idea based on russian "civilization".. haha russian "civilization", that's euphesim.

[Marco Polo]

oh please don't include russia in europeans.

time for germany to build them and maybe other big states such as Poland and Spain. Ukraine too maybe.

watch closely to what putin is doing!

[Marco Polo]

nothing to do with communism but with culture. russians don't feel europeans, they just want to dominate europe and they already tried with communism. they may change the system but the target is still the same one.

did you check the BNP website? they too got an imperium idea based on russian "civilization".. haha russian "civilization", that's euphesim.

thank you, you said it all! EUROPE will end up dominating russia.

[PERICLES]

no im serious. they cant operate without american go ahead. Thats thatcher for you!

They can't operate thier own weapons!!! They are defenceless then :(

[Highlander]

no one forgets north korea, but he will take the south or japan and not us.

don't know. i think they (china/us) already have plans to annihilate them in a case of war. china & nk relations are not what were once.

[Highlander]

watch closely to what putin is doing!

what is he doing?

[PERICLES]

nothing to do with communism but with culture. russians don't feel europeans, they just want to dominate europe and they already tried with communism. they may change the system but the target is still the same one.

did you check the BNP website? they too got an imperium idea based on russian "civilization".. haha russian "civilization", that's euphesim.

Putin wants a closer relations with Europe. He already applied for membership but il professor Prodi (one of the most ardent supporters of Turkey :mad: ) told him that they are too big!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[PERICLES]

what is he doing?

At the moment probably he's sleeping ;)

[Highlander]

Putin wants a closer relations with Europe. He already applied for membership but il professor Prodi (one of the most ardent supporters of Turkey :mad: ) told him that they are too big!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:


they are in fact. no one can deny it. with the current set up they would end up dominating the eu!

i don't trust them as much as i don't trust israel, turkey and the US.

[Marco Polo]

They can't operate thier own weapons!!! They are defenceless then :(

thatcher was a neocon im sure. New world order!

[PERICLES]

they are in fact. no one can deny it. with the current set up they would end up dominating the eu!

i don't trust them as much as i don't trust israel, turkey and the US.

Thier population is of 147 million people. The EU's population is roughly 450 million people. Then there's also Ukraine (47 millions), Romania (22 million), Bulgaria & Belorussia (10 million each), Croatia (4 million) and Serbia (23 millions). They cannot take over Europe. We must show them that we consider them Europeans like us.

[Marco Polo]

what is he doing?

search the forum for putin as im off out. ill talk more later.

[Highlander]

Thier population is of 147 million people. The EU's population is roughly 450 million people. Then there's also Ukraine (47 millions), Romania (22 million), Bulgaria & Belorussia (10 million each), Croatia (4 million) and Serbia (23 millions). They cannot take over Europe. We must show them that we consider them Europeans like us.

and tell me, which european country has a population of 147 million?

wouldn't they dominate the EU if they get in ?

[Cikku]

and again you all forget the greatest threat - kim jong il -- Originally Posted by etoile noir

Kim is playing a dangerous game. He will neither take S.Korea nor Japan

[PERICLES]

and tell me, which european country has a population of 147 million?

wouldn't they dominate the EU if they get in ?

No because they wouldn't be the ABSOLUTE majority. They would make up just one fifth of the EU population.

[malsey]

U think he will think it twice to sent a couple of bombs to japan, or China, even if then he will killed himself by radio activity.
These people I admire them to a certain point. They prefer to die instead of loose power and become pupazzi tal USA


Kim is playing a dangerous game. He will neither take S.Korea nor Japan

[etoile noir]

These people I admire them to a certain point. They prefer to die instead of lose power and become pupazzi tal USA

speaking of not becoming a pupazz tal USA, today happens to be Castro's day, one man who has defied the US for decades.

On April 17 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro.

[Cikku]

U think he will think it twice to sent a couple of bombs to japan, or China, even if then he will killed himself by radio activity. -- Originally Posted by malsey.

He will not think twice about sending a few missiles here or there as he is NOT ALL THERE HIMSELF. BUT, to send the missiles with NUKE HEADS you have to have them first mals !!

IMMA ftakar ukoll li minn jilaba tal-bahnan ma jhallas dwana !!

;)

[Marco Polo]

and tell me, which european country has a population of 147 million?

wouldn't they dominate the EU if they get in ?

how can a cultureless population of 147 million russians ever hope to dominate a cultured european population of 450 million? Putin is leaning to europe. just look at st petersburg!

Germany has a population of 80 million, france, britain and italy have a population of 65 million a piece. You think russia can dominate? LOL

[malsey]

why you are so certain he doesn't have them??



He will not think twice about sending a few missiles here or there as he is NOT ALL THERE HIMSELF. BUT, to send the missiles with NUKE HEADS you have to have them first mals !!

IMMA ftakar ukoll li minn jilaba tal-bahnan ma jhallas dwana !!

;)

[PERICLES]

why you are so certain he doesn't have them??

Ghax forsi qal li ghandu biex jiblafja.

[Cikku]

why you are so certain he doesn't have them?? -- Originally Posted by malsey

PERICLES already gave you the answer but then with Kim NOBODY knows where they stand. HE IS a dangerous person as the country is so "closed" that not even the CIA can get a hang on him.

[PERICLES]

Japanese PM apologizes for war

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.japan.koizumi/story.koizumi.waveap.jpg
Koizumi waves on his arrival in Jakarta for the Asia-Africa summit.



http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/1.gifhttp://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.japan.koizumi/story.machimura.ap.jpg


Machimura meets Rwandan counterpart Charles Murigande.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.japan.koizumi/story.guard.beijing.ap.gif A Chinese paramilitary officer guards the Japanese embassy .


http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.japan.koizumi/story.annan.protests.jpg U.N. Secretary-General Annan urges China and Japan to resolve dispute.











JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has apologized for Japan's wartime activities in Asia during his speech at a summit in Jakarta on Friday.

Koizumi expressed Japan's ''deep remorse'' and ''heartfelt apology'' for its wartime past when he addressed the Asia-Africa conference, which was opened on Friday by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Koizumi's remarks appear to be aimed at smoothing relations with China and South Korea in particular, where there have been anti-Japan demonstrations recently.

Koizumi is also expected to have a fence-mending meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the summit -- possibly on Saturday because of scheduling problems on Friday, according to Japanese sources.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, arriving in Jakarta for the Asian-African summit, said earlier this week he believed a "meeting will be realized."

In his speech, Koizumi said: "In the past, Japan through its colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations.

"Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility and with feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology always engraved in mind," he said.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have soured in recent weeks, with a string of violent anti-Japan demonstrations in China provoking demands from Japan for an apology.

China has refused, instead blaming Japan for not facing up to its wartime history.

"The first purpose of such a meeting (between Koizumi and Hu) is for the leaders of the two countries to confirm the importance of friendship between Japan and China," Reuters quoted Machimura as saying in Jakarta.

On Wednesday, CNN's Tara Duffy in Beijing said the Chinese government was still studying the question of whether such a meeting would take place.

One potential sticking point for the meeting could come in the form of a visit by Japanese lawmakers to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Friday.

The shrine honors about 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including executed criminals such as World War II-era prime minister Hideki Tojo.

Close to 50 Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine Friday morning.

Takeo Hiranuma, a former trade minister, and Tamisuke Watanuki, a former speaker of the lower house, were among those paying their respects.

There were no Cabinet ministers among the group, which visited the shrine in observance of an annual spring festival, the Associated Press reports.

Another 119 lawmakers were represented by their aides.

The visit could further anger Beijing's mood, though as CNN's Atika Shubert in Tokyo noted, the annual visit to the shrine was scheduled well before the recent deterioration in China-Japan relations.

Deteriorating relations

Chinese demonstrators in cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have rallied in recent weeks against Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

They are also protesting over a textbook approved by Japan's education ministry that China says whitewashes Japanese wartime atrocities.

On Tuesday a Japanese court turned down a lawsuit filed by the Chinese survivors of Japanese atrocities during World War II, a court official told CNN. (Full story (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/19/china.japan.court/index.html))

China has rejected Japanese demands for an apology over the damage caused by Chinese demonstrators, claiming instead that it is Japan that owes the apology for not facing up to its wartime activities.

Japan has apologized on numerous occasions for its wartime actions -- most notably in August 1995 when Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama expressed his "deep remorse" and "heartfelt apology" to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

But visits by Japanese prime ministers to the Yasukuni shrine -- where war criminals are buried along with other Japanese war dead -- continue to cast a cloud over these apologies, and countries such as China and the two Koreas doubt Japan's sincerity.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura proposed the Jakarta meeting during his visit to China that began Sunday. He left Beijing early on Tuesday, expressing "deep regret" that China would not apologize for the violent protests.

Annan, who will attend the Jakarta summit, said he would encourage Koizumi and Hu to meet.

Japan has warned of economic consequences as relations slump to their lowest since the two resumed diplomatic ties in 1972.

China is Japan's biggest trading partner, but Machimura has warned that bilateral ties, "including on the economic front, could decline to a serious state."

Trade between China and Japan last year was worth about $167 billion. According to Chinese government statistics, Japan has invested in more than 20,000 projects in China with total actual investment of more than $32 billion.

However, Merrill Lynch Japan chief economist Jesper Koll told CNN on Tuesday that there would be "minimal economic impact" from the tensions, because both sides needed each other.

"It is a well-integrated economic relationship," he said.

Japan has received support from staunch ally the United States in its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, one of the key friction points in its relations with China.

On Monday, the new U.S. ambassador to Tokyo, J. Thomas Schieffer, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying: "We believe that Japan speaking with a louder voice in the world will actually increase the chances for peace and security."

Large anti-Japan protests raged through half a dozen Chinese cities on Saturday and Sunday, for the third weekend in a row.


http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.japan.koizumi/index.html

[PERICLES]

Hu warns on Japan dispute



Saturday, April 23, 2005 Posted: 1344 GMT (2144 HKT)


http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.japan.meeting/long.leaders.ap.jpg
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Asian-African summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.



JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Chinese President Hu Jintao has warned that his country's dispute with Japan over Tokyo's World War II aggression could affect the stability and development of Asia, and urged the Japanese to back up their apologies with action.

Hu was speaking after a 55-minute meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the sidelines of the Asian-African summit in Jakarta.

"At the moment Sino-Japanese relations face a difficult situation. Such a difficult situation is not one we want to see," Hu told reporters after the closed-door meeting.

If the problem cannot be solved "it would be detrimental to China and Japan and would affect stability and development in Asia," he added.

Koizumi told reporters it was a "very good meeting," as he left the venue.

It was the first top-level discussion since massive anti-Japanese protests erupted earlier this month in major Chinese cities over Tokyo's approval of school textbooks that China claims play down wartime atrocities.

Hu said the strong reaction of the Chinese people is "something the Japanese side should seriously reflect on."

The meeting came a day after Koizumi offered the most public apology in a decade over Japan's wartime aggression in Asia. Koizumi's expression of "deep remorse" broke no new ground, but the rare appeal was a clear attempt to reverse the worst erosion of ties between Tokyo and Beijing since diplomatic relations were established in 1972.

However, Hu said Tokyo should back up its words of remorse with action.

The two men are in Indonesia attending a summit of Asian and African leaders, which was opened on Friday by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

''I would like to convey (to Hu) that Japan believes friendly ties are important, especially when anti-Japan feelings exist,'' Koizumi said, according to Kyodo.

Koizumi's announcement followed his apology for Japan's wartime activities in Asia, made during his speech at the summit in Jakarta earlier Friday.

He expressed Japan's ''deep remorse'' and ''heartfelt apology'' for its wartime past.

But China's ambassador to South Korea, Li Bin, dismissed the remarks, saying "actions are more important" than words, The Associated Press reported.

Friction between the two countries has increased in recent weeks, with a string of violent anti-Japan demonstrations in China provoking demands from Japan for an apology.

China has refused, instead blaming Japan for not facing up to its wartime history.

Beijing has also expressed "strong dissatisfaction" by a visit Friday by Japanese lawmakers to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

The shrine honors about 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including executed criminals such as World War II-era prime minister Hideki Tojo.

Nearly 50 Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine Friday morning.

Takeo Hiranuma, a former trade minister, and Tamisuke Watanuki, a former speaker of the lower house, were among those paying their respects.

There were no Cabinet ministers among the group, which visited the shrine in observance of an annual spring festival, AP reported.

Another 119 lawmakers were represented by their aides.

In his Jakarta speech, Koizumi said: "In the past, Japan through its colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations.

"Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility and with feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology always engraved in mind," he said.

Chinese demonstrators in cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have rallied in recent weeks against Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

They are also protesting over a textbook approved by Japan's education ministry that China says whitewashes Japanese wartime atrocities.

On Tuesday, a Japanese court turned down a lawsuit filed by the Chinese survivors of Japanese atrocities during World War II, a court official told CNN. (Full story (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/19/china.japan.court/index.html))

Japan has apologized on numerous occasions for its wartime actions -- most notably in August 1995 when Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama expressed his "deep remorse" and "heartfelt apology" to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

China is Japan's biggest trading partner and there are concerns that diplomatic friction could have an impact on the both counties' economies.

Trade between China and Japan last year was worth about $167 billion. According to Chinese government statistics, Japan has invested in more than 20,000 projects in China with total actual investment of more than $32 billion.

However, Merrill Lynch Japan chief economist Jesper Koll told CNN that there would be "minimal economic impact" from the tensions, because both sides needed each other.

"It is a well-integrated economic relationship," he said.

Meanwhile, Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council is supported by the United States, a staunch ally of Japan.

On Monday, the new U.S. ambassador to Tokyo, J. Thomas Schieffer, was quoted by AP as saying: "We believe that Japan speaking with a louder voice in the world will actually increase the chances for peace and security."


http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.japan.meeting/index.html

var clickExpire = "-1";

[Neverwinter]

Source (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/01/asia/web-0401japan.php)
Japan's textbooks reflect revised history
By Norimitsu Onishi
Saturday, March 31, 2007

TOKYO: In another sign that Japan is pressing ahead in revising its history of World War II, new high school textbooks will no longer acknowledge that the Imperial Army was responsible for a major atrocity in Okinawa, the government announced late Friday.

The Ministry of Education ordered publishers to delete passages stating that the Imperial Army ordered civilians to commit mass suicide during the Battle of Okinawa, as the island was about to fall to American troops in the final months of the war.

The decision was announced as part of the ministry's annual screening of textbooks used in all public schools. The ministry also ordered changes to other delicate issues to dovetail with government assertions, though the screening is supposed to be free of political interference.

"I believe the screening system has been followed appropriately," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has long campaigned to soften the treatment in textbooks of Japan's wartime conduct.

The decision on the Battle of Okinawa, which came as a surprise because the ministry had never objected to the description in the past, followed recent denials by Abe that the military had coerced women into sexual slavery during the war.

The results of the annual textbook screening are closely watched in China, South Korea and other Asian countries. So the fresh denial of the military's responsibility in the Battle of Okinawa and in sexual slavery — long accepted as historical facts — is likely to deepen suspicions in Asia that Tokyo is trying to whitewash its militarist past even as it tries to raise the profile of its current forces.

Shortly after assuming office last fall, Abe transformed the Defense Agency into a full ministry. He has said that his most important goal is to revise the American-imposed, pacifist Constitution that forbids Japan from having a full-fledged military with offensive abilities.

Some 200,000 Americans and Japanese died during the Battle of Okinawa, one of the most brutal clashes of the war. It was the only battle on Japanese soil involving civilians, but Okinawa was not just any part of Japan.

It was only in the late 19th century that Japan officially annexed Okinawa, a kingdom that, to this day, has retained some of its own culture. During World War II, when many Okinawans still spoke a different dialect, Japanese troops treated the locals brutally. In its history of the war, the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum presents Okinawa as being caught in the fighting between America and Japan — a starkly different view from the Yasukuni Shrine war museum, which presents Japan as a liberator of Asia from Western powers.

During the 1945 battle, during which one quarter of the civilian population was killed, the Japanese Army showed indifference to Okinawa's defense and safety. Japanese soldiers used civilians as shields against the Americans, and persuaded locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. With the impending victory of American troops, civilians committed mass suicide, urged on by fanatical Japanese soldiers.

"There were some people who were forced to commit suicide by the Japanese Army," one old textbook explained. But in the revision ordered by the ministry, it now reads, "There were some people who were driven to mass suicide."

Other changes are similar — the change to a passive verb, the disappearance of a subject — and combine to erase the responsibility of the Japanese military. In explaining its policy change, the ministry said that it "is not clear that the Japanese Army coerced or ordered the mass suicides."

As with Abe's denial regarding sexual slavery, the ministry's new position appeared to discount overwhelming evidence of coercion, particularly the testimony of victims and survivors themselves.

"There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide," Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, said in an angry editorial. "There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up.

The editorial described the change as a politically influenced decision that "went along with the government view."

Abe, after helping to found the Group of Young Parliamentarians Concerned About Japan's Future and History Education in 1997, long led a campaign to reject what nationalists call a masochistic view of history that has robbed postwar Japanese of their pride.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, a former prime minister who is a staunch ally of Abe, recently denied what he wrote in 1978. In a memoir about his Imperial Navy experiences in Indonesia, titled " Commander of 3,000 Men at Age 23," he wrote that some of his men "started attacking local women or became addicted to gambling.

"For them, I went to great pains, and had a comfort station built," Nakasone wrote, using the euphemism for a military brothel.

But in a meeting with foreign journalists a week ago, Nakasone, now 88, issued a flat denial. He said he had actually set up a "recreation center," where his men played Japanese board games like go and shogi.

In a meeting on Saturday with Foreign Minister Taro Aso of Japan, South Korea's foreign minister, Song Min-soon, criticized Abe's recent comments on sexual slaves.

"The problems over perceptions of history are making it difficult to move South Korean-Japanese relations forward," Song said.

Aso said Japan stuck by a 1993 statement acknowledging responsibility for past sexual slavery, but said nothing about Abe's denial that the military had coerced women, many of them Korean, into sexual slavery.

[Artist]

Chinese protest in Milan, Italy
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[link to news.bbc.co.uk (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6550725.stm)]

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

Chinese migrants clash with Italian police in Milan's Chinatown district
The riot broke out after a Chinese woman was given a traffic fine
Italian riot police have broken up a violent protest in Milan's Chinatown by scores of Chinese immigrants.

About 10 police officers were injured and a similar number of Chinese people received hospital treatment.

The trouble began when a Chinese woman was fined for illegally transporting goods in a private vehicle.

More than 100 Chinese shopkeepers and members of their families, many waving the national flag, massed in the street claiming racial discrimination.

Baton charge

During the unrest, which lasted until nightfall, a car was overturned and the police carried out a baton charge. The woman was arrested and later admitted to hospital.

The Chinese immigrant community in Italy has grown very rapidly during the past 10 years.

Normally, they keep a very low profile and cause little trouble to the authorities.

According to official statistics, there are about 114,000 Chinese currently living in Italy, but the true figure is probably double this number because of widespread illegal immigration.

In Milan alone, the resident Chinese population has more than doubled to about 12,000 in about 10 years. Other cities with a large Chinese community include the capital, Rome, and Prato, in Tuscany, where Chinese workers are employed in the textile dying industry.

In Rome and Milan wholesale distributors of goods made in China occupy entire quarters of the two cities. It was the noise and traffic caused by these businesses which sparked off the rioting in Milan.