China Not Making Any New Japanese Friends Lately
Sigh.
It seems nobody's ever told Beijing that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
10,000 people in Beijing staged an anti-Japan protest which included hurling rocks and bottles at the Japanese embassy. Come on now, people! Riot police were called out to maintain order, sort of:
Some marched to the Japanese Embassy in the central part of the capital and threw rocks and bottles, breaking some of its windows. Several thousand later went to the eastern part of the city and surrounded the official residence of Japanese Ambassador Koreshige Anami, where they threw stones at his windows and overturned a nearby car believed to be Japanese. . . . Others were seen attacking Japanese restaurants and a bank, throwing rocks, smashing windows and insulting the workers. . . . Protesters later pushed their way through a paramilitary police cordon to the gates of the Japanese ambassador's residence, throwing stones and water bottles and shouting "Japanese pig come out!" Some 500 paramilitary police holding plastic shields raced into the compound and barricaded the gates. "Chinese people shouldn't protect Japanese," the protesters shouted at the police as they threw stones and bricks at the residence. |
I repeat, SIGH. Or as my Taiwanese kin say, "Aiya!"
Japan has since lodged an official protest. And it should. There's been all sorts of unpleasantness lately -- especially over how angry Beijing is at Japan's bid to get a UN Security Council seat.