Name: VIPPER 2005-04-10 20:19
TOKYO - Japan has demanded an apology after Chinese demonstrators broke windows and threw eggs at the Japanese embassy in Beijing.
The Chinese ambassador in Tokyo was summoned to the Japanese foreign ministry to hear complaints about the anti-Japanese rallies, which have gone on for several days in at least three large Chinese cities.
A protester holds up a picture of a Japanese war criminal during Sunday's protest in Shenzhen.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura called for an apology, compensation and protection for Japanese citizens and businesses.
Chinese ambassador Wang Yi said the Chinese government did not back the protests.
The demonstrators are angry about a new textbook approved for use in Japanese schools. They say the book makes light of atrocities committed by the Japanese military against the Chinese when Japan occupied parts of China during the 1930s and the Second World War.
The book refers to the Japanese slaughter of civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing in December 1937 as an "incident," while it's widely known as a massacre or "the rape of Nanjing" outside Japan. The Chinese say 300,000 died in the massacre.
The Chinese government has denounced the book.
On Saturday, demonstrators broke windows in the Japanese embassy in Beijing. The protests continued on Sunday, with calls for boycotts of Japanese products and marches on Japanese companies and diplomatic missions.
The textbook issue is just one of several marring relations between the two Asian countries.
China does not want Japan to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, there are territorial disputes over tiny islands, and Japan opposes move by European countries to lift an embargo on arms sales to China.
The Chinese ambassador in Tokyo was summoned to the Japanese foreign ministry to hear complaints about the anti-Japanese rallies, which have gone on for several days in at least three large Chinese cities.
A protester holds up a picture of a Japanese war criminal during Sunday's protest in Shenzhen.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura called for an apology, compensation and protection for Japanese citizens and businesses.
Chinese ambassador Wang Yi said the Chinese government did not back the protests.
The demonstrators are angry about a new textbook approved for use in Japanese schools. They say the book makes light of atrocities committed by the Japanese military against the Chinese when Japan occupied parts of China during the 1930s and the Second World War.
The book refers to the Japanese slaughter of civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing in December 1937 as an "incident," while it's widely known as a massacre or "the rape of Nanjing" outside Japan. The Chinese say 300,000 died in the massacre.
The Chinese government has denounced the book.
On Saturday, demonstrators broke windows in the Japanese embassy in Beijing. The protests continued on Sunday, with calls for boycotts of Japanese products and marches on Japanese companies and diplomatic missions.
The textbook issue is just one of several marring relations between the two Asian countries.
China does not want Japan to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, there are territorial disputes over tiny islands, and Japan opposes move by European countries to lift an embargo on arms sales to China.