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| Sunday, 10 April 2005 |
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Anti-Japan march in Beijing BEIJING, April 9 (Reuters) - Chinese protesters chanted slogans and burned Japanese flags on Saturday as thousands turned out in the capital to demand a boycott of Japanese goods over Tokyo's refusal to admit to World War Two atrocities. The demonstration in the Beijing neighbourhood of Zhongguancun, known for its electronics shops and home to a large student population, comes less than a week after anti-Japanese protests in other Chinese cities turned violent. "Japan doesn't face up to its history," said protester Cheng Lei, a 27-year-old IT professional. "We want to express our feelings so the Japanese government knows what we think. I haven't bought any Japanese goods since I was at university." Police in Zhongguancun declined to say how many protesters were out, but the official Xinhua news agency said there were more than 1,000. The streets were also thronged with pedestrians cheering on the demonstration and snapping photos as a heavy police presence looked on. Protests in China, where the Communist leadership is concerned about maintaining stability at a time of wrenching social change and a widening gap between rich and poor, are rare. Past demonstrations outside the Japanese embassy have typically been heavily policed, choreographed events involving about 50 people, with short speeches, some singing and petitions or letters being presented to the mission. Many Chinese harbour deep resentment of Japan's wartime aggression and its failure to own up to atrocities. Such feelings have been exacerbated by Tokyo's approval on Tuesday of a school history textbook critics say whitewashes Japanese war crimes. "Across the country, the mood to refuse Japanese goods is high, but nothing has been done about this. Therefore, patriotic students have organised themselves," said a notice circulated by e-mail on Friday. On Saturday, the mostly student protesters carried signboards with lists of Japanese brand names crossed out and chanted slogans outside an electronics plaza urging the boycott. |
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