China's government yesterday appealed to its public to end fierce protests over Japan's handling of its wartime history and its campaign for a permanent UN Security Council seat, while the UN chief urged the two nations to hold a summit to defuse their row.
In comments widely reported yesterday by state television and newspapers, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
"Express yourselves calmly, rationally and in an orderly fashion," Li was quoted as saying.
"Do not participate in unapproved marches and other activities and do not do anything that will affect social stability," he reportedly said.
Anti-Japanese demonstrations have erupted in several Chinese cities in recent weeks over a textbook approved by Japan that critics say whitewashes the country's past. The protesters, who also oppose Tokyo's Security Council bid, have smashed windows of Japan's diplomatic missions and damaged Japanese restaurants.
China has declined Japanese demands to apologize and pay compensation, saying Japan sparked the protests by offending the Chinese people and that Tokyo should be the one to apologize.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was heading to Indonesia to attend this week's Asia-Africa summit, urged Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to hold a one-on-one meeting at the summit over the weekend.
"I will see the leaders individually, but I would encourage them to meet to discuss their differences on this issue," Annan said as he prepared to fly to Jakarta.
"Both of them will be there, and I think it offers an opportunity, and hopefully they will take advantage," he said.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry official urged Japan yesterday to help create "good conditions" for the possible summit, but wouldn't say what Beijing wants Tokyo to do.
"We always believe it is highly significant for China and Japan to maintain contacts and dialogues, particularly between leaders of the two sides," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity at a briefing arranged by the ministry.
"However, both sides need to make efforts to bring about an appropriate atmosphere and good conditions for that to happen," he said.
Meanwhile, Japanese lawmakers were planning a visit tomorrow to a Tokyo shrine that critics say glorifies the country's militarist past. The visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, was bound to further infuriate the Chinese public.
China's state-run press called such visits "a step backwards."
"We respect the Japanese culture in which Japanese pay homage to those who died for their country," said an editorial yesterday in the China Daily.
"But our understanding for officials' shrine visits is running out, as war criminals are honored in this shrine," the editorial said.
The editorial also accused Japan of pouring "fuel on the flames of Chinese anger" by recently approving a school textbook that "denies and beautifies war crimes" and plans to give drilling rights to Japanese companies looking to explore disputed areas of the East China Sea.
Li's appeal for calm was a reiteration of demands issued by the government since last week. But it was the first time a member of the Chinese leadership has made the appeal in public and Li's comments late on Tuesday were more widely publicized, appearing on state television and the front pages of some newspapers yesterday.
Li said that improved relations between the two sides hinge on Japan taking a "correct view of history."
Japan's attitude toward its history had "deeply hurt the national feeling of the Chinese people and brought complexity to Sino-Japanese relations," Li said.
Despite the appeals, anti-Japanese activists have posted calls on Web sites for more protests on the Labor Day holiday, May 1, and on May 4 -- the date of a 1919 student uprising over a treaty that ceded part of China to Japan.
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