Anti-Japanese Riots in China

A Chinese protester attacks a Honda-branded police car with an metal rod during an anti-Japanese protest in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.  (Photograph: Reuters)

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Thousands of protesters took to the streets across China, attacking Japanese-made cars and smashing windows of Japanese-owned businesses, after activists from Japan landed on a disputed island at the centre of an escalating territorial spat between Beijing and Tokyo.

The Chinese foreign ministry rebuked Tokyo after campaigners arrived on the East China Sea islet, waving Japanese flags.

Activists from Hong Kong visited the islands last week to press China's claim, but were arrested and deported by Japan reports the UK Guardian.

Japan controls the archipelago, which it calls the Senkaku, but the islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan, which know them as the Diaoyu.



Anti-Japanese Riots  -  Chinese overturn cars to protest Japan claim
Thousands of people protested in the streets of China against Japan's claim to a contested island territory.

The East China Sea contains valuable energy reserves and fisheries and the row is complicated by long-running historical tensions. Many in China complain that Japan has failed to fully acknowledge or atone for wartime atrocities; in Japan, there is growing anxiety over China's increasing military might.
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Up to 2,000 people with Chinese flags and banners protested in the southern city of Shenzhen, overturning Japanese cars, attacking Japanese restaurants and burning images of Japanese flags. Qingdao, Taiyuan and Hangzhou also saw protests, while smaller ones took place in several more cities across China, from far northern Harbin to south-western Chengdu. In Guangzhou and Shenyang, protesters gathered at the Japanese consulates.

There were similar protests two years ago after Japan detained a Chinese captain when his fishing boat hit one of its patrol vessels. But Sunday's outcry appeared to be the largest since 2005, when tens of thousands marched over several weekends. Chinese authorities have been markedly more tolerant of nationalist protest than of other activism in the past.


Violent Chinese protest over Japan island dispute
Violent protests have broken out in cities across China after a Japanese delegation visited a chain of islands claimed by both countries.

Protesters march during an anti-Japan protest in Jinan, Shandong province Sunday. Several Japanese nationalists landed on an island at the heart of a territorial dispute with Beijing, sparking protests in several Chinese cities.

Anti-Japan protesters march in Chengdu, in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Sunday. Protesters reportedly numbered in the thousands in the cities of Shenzhen and Hangzhou.

This image taken from AFP video shows Japanese nationalists placing the country's flag on a disputed island, part of a group known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

A boat is surrounded by Japan Coast Guard's patrol boats after some activists descended from the boat on Uotsuri Island, one of the islands of Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, in East China Sea.
(National Post)