In the latest escalation between Japan and China over a blazing World War II history row, Japan is demanding a Chinese apology for the damage done to its embassy in Beijing, for the damage to their ambassador's residence and for damage to Japanese-owned Beijing companies and shops. The Japanese are also demanding compensation to foot the bills for repairing everything.
This was after thousands of angry rock and bottle-throwing Chinese civilians pelted the Japanese embassy and destroyed several businesses as an anti-Japanese rally quickly became violent. Here's what happened.
Japan angered China by its apparent "whitewash" of Japanese atrocities before and during World War II with regards to its invasion of China in Japanese middle-school history texts. The situation has not improved and has caused severe diplomatic problems between Japan and China.
There was already tension over disputed islands in the South China Sea, the recent incursion of a Chinese Navy submarine into sovereign Japanese waters, and disputes over underwater gas fields which lay beneath the seabed and between the two Asian economic superpowers. The history textbooks, written by Japanese nationalists, are causing no small amount of headaches in Beijing and Tokyo.
It's too bad all of these things are happening at the same time. It has not been helpful to the six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear problem, nor has it helped ease tensions between China and Taiwan. In addition, Beijing and some of the other Asian nations are uneasy about Japanese troops going overseas on peacekeeping missions or Japan's limited participation in the Iraq War.
Japan could throw water on the fire by taking another look at the textbooks and perhaps delay the release of the offensive textbooks for a while until a suitable alternative can be found. The two nations are trading partners, but that may be affected next if things don't improve on the other issues.
Hopefully they settle their differences without it escalating any further.
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