Tensions escalate as China threatens Japan’s UN hopes

A ROW between Japan and China intensified yesterday as the Asian powers each demanded protection for their nationals and Beijing insisted Tokyo did not deserve a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Three days after thousands of Chinese took to the streets to vent fury at Japan and its past aggression, the Japanese trade minister described China as a “scary country” and Tokyo demanded a Chinese apology.

There were also calls for calm, with Beijing’s envoy to Tokyo telling Japan it had nothing to fear from China’s economic and military rise.

The Chinese government, which tolerated the demonstration in Beijing, yesterday backed protesters’ views that Japan should not win a Security Council seat until it faced up to its past.

“Only a country that respects the history, takes responsibility for the past history and wins over the trust of the people of Asia and the world at large can take greater responsibilities in the international community,” premier Wen Jiabao said on a visit to Security Council aspirant India.

“The whole issue in China-Japan relations is Japan needs to face up to history squarely,” said Mr Wen, whose nation holds a veto-wielding UN seat. Japan has made winning a UN seat a foreign policy goal to show it is a global power.

Tokyo’s approval last week of a nationalist history textbook has triggered fresh bitterness in China, which suffered a brutal occupation by Japan from 1933 to 1945.

On Sunday, Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador to demand an apology and compensation.

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, who is due in Beijing on Sunday, said Japan wanted a reply “at the earliest”.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said he was worried about the impact on Japanese companies in China, which last year surpassed the US as Japan’s top commercial partner.

“As I have heard they are aiming to build a country driven by the market economy, I want (China) to take firm measures. It’s a scary country,” he added.

But with images of angry Chinese being shown on Japanese television, China demanded protection for Chinese residents after an act of vandalism.

Police said nine cracks, which could have been caused by an air gun, were discovered on Sunday in the glass door of a building that houses an office of the Bank of China in Yokohama.

“Chinese officials working there felt danger. This is a kind of terrorist act,” embassy spokesman Huang Xingyuan said.

Former Japanese foreign minister Masahiko Komura, who chairs a parliamentary group promoting friendship between the nations, called on leaders “to act wisely”.

“It seems nationalism is emerging in both countries. Healthy nationalism is not necessarily problematic but it is regrettable if it leads to anti-Japanese sentiment in China and to the dislike of China in Japan,” he said.