China Rejects Japan's Demand for Apology
China's foreign minister on Sunday rejected Tokyo's demand for an apology for damage to Japanese diplomatic missions in violent protests, telling his Japanese counterpart that Beijing had done nothing for which it had to apologize to Japan's people. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing instead complained that Japan has "hurt the feelings" of Chinese on a series of issues, including relations with rival Taiwan and "the subject of history" — a reference to new Japanese textbooks that critics say minimize Japan's wartime offenses. "The Chinese government has never done anything for which it has to apologize to the Japanese people," Li told Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.
posted by Unknown @ 4:56 PM
2 Comments:
It is not unreasonable to be a little bit concerned about what appears to be the militant nationalism of many Chinese, which also appears to be encouraged by the Chinese government -- certainly its manifestation in violent protests does not seem to be discouraged.
Personally, I think the Japanese should forget about an apology, and instead ask the Chinese authorities to confirm that it is their responsibility to see that lives and property are protected in such situations, and to state their clear intention to do a better job of this in the future.
It would be interesting to see how the Chinese respond to that.
I'm still waiting for the Japanese to admit to the Rape of Nanking, much less apologize for it.
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