CHINA: China's premier told Japan to "face up to history" and Tokyo's trade minister called China "scary" yesterday as a dispute over Japan's wartime past rumbled on after violent weekend demonstrations.
Thousands of Chinese took part in the protests over what many in Asia see as Japan's failure to own up to atrocities before and during the second World War and Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao told reporters in New Delhi that Japan must "face up to history squarely" and that the protests should give Tokyo reason to rethink its bid for a permanent council seat. "The strong responses from the Asian people should make the Japanese government have deep and profound reflections," he said.
"Only a country that respects history, takes responsibility for past history and wins over the trust of the people in Asia and the world at large can take greater responsibility in the international community," he added. China overtook the United States as Japan's biggest trading partner in 2004 with about $178 billion in trade. Japanese corporations sank about $9.2 billion into China that year.
Japanese trade minister Shoichi Nakagawa said he was concerned about the impact of Chinese anti-Japanese sentiment on Japanese companies.
"Yes, I'm worried . . . they're a country that's trying to become a market economy and we need them to take a proper response," he told a news conference. "It's a scary country." The weekend protesters burned the Japanese flag, smashed Japanese-made cars, targeted Japanese businesses and broke windows at the Japanese embassy in Beijing while police stood by.
Yesterday the Chinese protests spilled over into Hong Kong, with teachers and students writing letters to Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi telling him not to gloss over Tokyo's wartime atrocities. - (Reuters)