Daily Lessons from Life 16 September 2012 - Anti-Japan protests widen, China struggles to rein in anger

"Anti-Japan protests widen, China struggles to rein in anger - Reuters Sep 16, 2012

BEIJING, China - Torrid protests against Japan broke out in Chinese cities for a second day on Sunday, prompting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to urge Beijing to protect his country's companies and diplomatic buildings from fresh assaults.

In the biggest flare-up in protests over East China Sea islands claimed by China and Japan, police fired tear gas and used water cannon to repel thousands of protesters occupying a street in the southern city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong.


The protests erupted in Beijing and other cities on Saturday, when demonstrators besieged the Japanese embassy, hurling rocks, eggs and bottles, and testing cordons of anti-riot police.

In at least four other Chinese cities, demonstrators looted shops and attacked Japanese cars. Protesters also broke into a dozen Japanese-run factories in the eastern city of Qingdao, according to the Japanese broadcaster NHK.


China is struggling to find a balance between venting public anger against Japan and containing violence that could backfire ahead of a delicate leadership succession.

A smaller crowd, some throwing water bottles, resumed marching past the Japanese embassy in Beijing, now guarded by a six-deep cordon of anti-riot police. "Japan, get the hell out of China!"
some yelled.

"The government should organise a mass boycott of Japanese goods, and then if the Japanese government does not give back our territory, we should declare war," one protester, a middle-aged Beijing woman named Wang Shi, told Reuters.


Tong Zeng, a businessman in Beijing and president of the China Federation for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, said these were the most widespread protests against Japan he had seen.

"This perhaps shows just how angry Chinese people are, but there have also been some cases of extreme acts, and that's very regrettable," Tong said.


The protests reflected pent-up social frustrations, he said."Some ordinary people have a kind of blind hatred of Japan, and as soon as you mention Japan they will show that."

Chinese state media praised "rational" expressions of anger but warned that violence could backfire against Beijing.


"Raging expressions of patriotism will only bring joy to the (Japanese) evil doers, put our foreign policy on the defensive and wound the feelings of compatriots," the People's Daily, the Communist Party's main paper, said in a website commentary.

The protests could continue for days yet. On Tuesday, China marks its official Sept. 18 memorial day for Japan's war-time occupation of China."

Yesterday I commented on the terrorists attack against USA facilities in various parts of the world. Today I comment on the on-off love-hat relationship of Sino-Japan that had been going on for ages!!

Lessons for me are:

1. Japan has not really, at least in some international and many Chinese observers' minds, apologized for its crime against humanity committed in World War II, unlike that of Germany. This has been a sore point and continue to be a sore point with many. Hence, any perceived violation or aggressive of asserting sovereignty over anything can trigger waves of protests. So far not deadly, which is a blessing;

2. While I commented earlier that it may be advantages for the Chinese leadership to divert the focus of the nation to a 'common outside enemy' while it struggles with the once a decade leadership transition exercise and the definitely slowing economy which create huge unemployment issue, among other challenges, when this 'passion' or 'orchestrated hatreds' spanned out of control, some radical and 'unafraid to die' zealots may well start killing innocent people and destroying properties! This is something the authority has to guard against;

3. As I had reiterated many times earlier, when emotion take charges over rationality in proposing a solution to a problem, it normally does not make sense and the consequence can be dire. It is good that the Chinese authority is aware of the risk of this anger spinning out of control. With this awareness, it will take all actions to ensure that the worst fear does not become a reality. With 9/18 approaching, emotion CAN be fanned higher by some 'focused' people. Beware. Just like the terrorists attacked on the anniversary of 911 in this latest wave of violence against the Americans, the Chinese public can go overboard too to protest against the Japanese.

May the world lives in peace and harmony...