Kan rues anti-Japan protests in China, calls for calm

+

TOKYO, Oct. 18 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan expressed regret Monday over anti-Japanese
demonstrations that erupted in Chinese cities over the weekend in connection
with a territorial row, calling for efforts to improve relations between the
two Asian powers in a calm manner.
''We told the Chinese authorities (the demonstrations) were regrettable and
strongly urge (China) to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals and firms,''
Kan said at an upper house panel session.
The violent anti-Japan protests, the largest since 2005, came just as tensions
between Tokyo and Beijing appeared to ease after Kan and Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao held an informal meeting Oct. 4 in Brussels on the fringes of an
Asia-Europe summit to make efforts to patch up bilateral ties.
Kan told reporters Monday evening that the recent protests will not ruin
efforts to improve bilateral ties or affect plans to arrange a Japan-China
summit later this month, saying, ''Both sides have agreed to act in a calm
manner.''
Ties between the two Asian neighbors have been strained following Japan's
arrest last month of a Chinese fishing boat captain on suspicion of obstructing
the official duties of Japan Coast Guard personnel by deliberately causing his
vessel to collide with one of the Coast Guard vessels. The captain has since
been released.
Tokyo and Beijing have been trying to organize a formal bilateral meeting
between Kan and Wen on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations
gatherings in late October in Hanoi.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference he sees the
protests as having ''little influence'' in their efforts to arrange the summit
talks in the Vietnamese capital, adding that the meeting is ''still in the
process'' of being arranged.
Kan, speaking at a session of the House of Councillors Audit Committee,
described Japan-China ties as ''extremely important'' and called for the ''need
for both (countries) to work calmly in deepening our strategic, mutually
beneficial relations.''
Japan's top government and ruling party officials warned against stirring
nationalistic sentiment.
''Both China and Japan...should refrain from making any remarks that would fan
nationalistic sentiment,'' Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the ruling
Democratic Party of Japan, told a separate news conference.
Sengoku said the Japanese government has so far not received any response from
Beijing over the protests -- after Tokyo sought assurances over the safety of
Japanese nationals and firms -- other than Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Ma Zhaoxu's official statement released early Sunday.
The statement, carried by China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, said,
''Patriotism should be expressed rationally and in line with law'' and that the
two countries need to make ''joint efforts to safeguard the strategic bilateral
relationship of mutual benefit.''
Despite the Japanese and Chinese governments' calls for calm, thousands of
mostly young Chinese protesters took to the streets in at least four Chinese
cities -- Chengdu, Mianyang, Zhengzhou and Xian -- over the weekend, with some
of them vandalizing Japanese restaurants and businesses as well as smashing
windows of Japanese brand cars.
The Chinese spokesman said it is ''understandable that some people expressed
their outrage against the recent erroneous words and deeds on the Japanese
side.''
On Saturday, many Japanese demonstrators also marched through Tokyo, expressing
anger over the way in which China as well as their own government have been
dealing with the developments that followed the maritime collisions on Sept. 7
between the Chinese boat and Japan Coast Guard patrol ships.
Kan defended his leadership in dealing with Japan's dispute with China, saying
he is ''convinced history will surely judge that the Kan Cabinet's handling was
appropriate,'' and reiterated that Sino-Japanese ties are gradually returning
to the level before the collisions shook their relations.
Tensions stemmed also from the fact that the collisions took place near the
Senkaku Islands, which are administrated by Japan and also claimed by China.
Bearing in mind that the diplomatic spat occurred as China's gross domestic
product looks set to surpass that of Japan this year and Beijing's defense
expenditures continue to rise sharply, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara told the
same upper house panel that Japan needs ''considerable resolve'' in continuing
to administer the Senkaku Islands.
==Kyodo
2010-10-18 23:47:26