By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Apr 16 2005 (IPS)

Shared economic interests between Japan and China might be keeping each other at peace. But the peace is more cold than cuddly as thousands of people took to the streets of the Chinese city of Shanghai on Saturday in the latest bitter anti-Japanese demonstrations over the weeks.

The Chinese were venting their rage against Japan for failing to atone for past atrocities during its colonial era.

”Rising tension between Japan and China is deeply disturbing,” Tomichi Shimoyama, who manages a lucrative 18-year-old business selling handbags and apparel made in China, told IPS.

”The situation is depressing and dangerous to my future,” said a disturbed Shimoyama, referring to the anti-Japanese sentiment that has spiraled out of control in China after Tokyo issued new school textbooks in April white-washing most references to the harsh colonisation policies carried out in East Asia under the now defunct Japanese Imperial Army.

”My business interests in China are at stake and I urge Japanese politicians to exercise restraint in the face of these protests,” added the businessman.

On Saturday protesters shouting anti-Japanese slogans and carrying Chinese flags surrounded the Japanese consulate in Shanghai throwing stones and other missiles. Demonstrators also stoned nearby Japanese restaurants.

Among the issues causing outrage is the description in the textbooks of the Japanese Imperial Army’s massacre in Nanjing as ”an incident”. Some 300,000 Chinese people were killed between December 1937 and March 1938 in one of the worst massacres in modern times.

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the major business lobby Japan Business Federation, warned in a statement that Japanese companies operating in China could be affected by anti- Japanese protests.

Quoted in the Japanese press, Okuda added that ”political problems do not usually get solved all at once” and said it is important for the leaders of the two countries to advance discussions.

In a bid to defuse the situation, Japan’s Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura is due in the Chinese capital Beijing for talks on Sunday.

”I want the Chinese people to recognise and understand Japan-China relations are being negatively impacted by the protests,” Machimura told reporters on Friday.

In New York U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan also called for reconciliation between the two sides.

”I hope this issue will be handled in a manner that will not escalate. I rely on the wisdom of the two countries to find a way out,” he said.

Analysts point out that Shimoyama’s anguish and Okuda’s words of caution symbolise contrasting views between businessmen and politicians in Japan in the current Sino- Japanese tensions.

”In contrast to politicians, businessmen want to maintain a friendly and mature relationship with China that has replaced the United States as Japan’s biggest trading partner,” said Daisuke Hiratsuka, an expert on South-east Asian economies at the Institute of Developing Economies, a quasi-governmental think-tank.

Trade between China and Japan amounted to 167.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2004, reflecting an increase of 25.7 per cent compared with the previous year.

China’s exports to Japan reached 73.5 billion dollars, an increase of 23.7 per cent, while the country’s imports from Japan stood at 94.4 billion dollars, up 27.3 per cent year on year.

Hirastuka told IPS, the economies of North-east Asia are closely intertwined and shared business interests could be used by leaders of both countries for easing the currently strained Sino-Japanese ties.

”Both sides should be aware that taking the feud too far could damage bilateral business interests badly in the long run. Japanese technology and investment in China is responsible for high growth in that country and Japanese businessmen want the best returns for themselves too,” added the economist.

”The perception gap is quite obvious,” said Hirastuka, referring to the yearly visits by Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are honoured among Japanese war dead. To the Chinese, this is a painful reopening of historical wounds.

In turn, the Chinese have said outright Japan does not have the moral qualifications to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council as part of an overhaul plan of the elite body this fall.

”Only a country that respects history, takes responsibility for past history and wins over the trust of people in Asia and the world at large can take greater responsibility in the international community,” Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in New Delhi earlier this week.

One of the first casualties in this most serious crisis since diplomatic ties between Japan and China were re-established in 1972 is the tourism industry here.

Many Chinese tour groups have cancelled their Japan bookings and some Japanese companies are not accepting requests for travel to China this coming May during Golden Week, a peak season for group travellers.

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