CHINA HAS said that Japan bears “complete responsibility” for any impact on trade over the dispute between Asia’s two powerhouses after tensions flared over a disputed island chain, as China returned to normal after days of protests.
In Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, street cleaners began cleaning up the effects of four days of protest. In the capital, they erased stains from paint bombs thrown at the Japanese embassy the previous day, although some roadblocks remained.
The protests took place at the weekend and again on Tuesday, when there were demonstrations marking the anniversary of the Mukden incident in Manchuria in 1931, a pretext for Japan’s invasion and brutal occupation of China.
Relations between Asia’s two biggest economies have deteriorated since Japan’s cabinet said last week it was purchasing an uninhabited group of islands in the East China Sea – known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China – from a private Japanese owner.
China’s ministry of commerce said Japan’s “unlawful purchase” of the islands would damage the development of economic and trade relations between the two countries. “It is not what we wish to see, for which Japan should take full responsibility,” ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said.
The tone in local media had turned more conciliatory by yesterday, saying that police were moving to punish those involved in looting or violent acts. Japanese businesses were attacked, Japanese brand cars were vandalised and many Japanese companies stopped production. In one case, a man smashed up a shop selling Rolex watches as he believed the logo was a Japanese brand.
The car of the US ambassador to China was slightly damaged after a group of demonstrators targeted the vehicle during the demonstrations, but the ambassador Gary Locke was unhurt.
