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Anti-Japanese protests continue in China against Tokyo's approval of two history textbooks criticized for glossing over Japan's wartime atrocities during World War II including forcing tens of thousands of Asian women into sexual slavery.
Officials with the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said some 10,000 Chinese protesters surrounded a Japanese-run supermarket in the southern city of Shenzhen on Sunday. They added about three thousand people marched toward the Japanese Consulate General in the southern city of Guangzhou for a peaceful demonstration.
The rallies follow a protest on Saturday outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, where more than ten thousand protesters threw rocks, breaking windows at the embassy building and demanded a boycott of Japanese products. They also urged the Chinese government to prevent Japan from gaining a permanent seat on the United Nations' Security Council.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura summoned China's ambassador on Sunday and expressed his concern saying that the violence is a serious problem. "We are asking for an apology. I also heard about the damage caused during the demonstration, and we are asking for compensation."
Large-scale protests are rare in China, where Communist rulers are concerned about maintaining stability at a time of social change.
Meanwhile in Shanghai, two Japanese students were beaten at a restaurant, according to the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai. Consulate officials say they were beaten with a beer mug and an ashtray by an unknown number of Chinese shortly after identifying themselves as Japanese. The two Japanese students received treatment at a local hospital and later returned home.
Meanwhile, Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, is facing more opposition. China's Beijing Youth Daily says 87 non-governmental organizations from 11 countries including South and North Korea, China, and Indonesia have announced their opposition to Japan gaining a seat on the UN Security Council.
The NGOs said Japan should first gain the trust of its neighbors by apologizing for its past wrongdoings. The NGOs reportedly submitted a statement underscoring their position to the UN Human Rights Commission.
China and Korea have also expressed their opposition following a dispute over Japanese history textbooks that the two countries claim distort historical facts and justify Japan's colonial rule.
Arirang TV
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