Managing China/Japan dispute proves tenuous

The Washington Post

BEIJING -- As anger increases in a territorial dispute between China and Japan, Chinese authorities have been playing both sides of the issue by quietly encouraging recent anti-Japanese protests, then publicly reining them in.

Experts point to signs that the Chinese authorities have cleared the way and, in some cases, even fueled some of the protests that have erupted in recent days. At the same time, officials have been careful to keep control over the masses, leery that gatherings of malcontents could easily turn against their own government.

China analysts say that the two-pronged approach is carefully calibrated to increase pressure on Japan, but that it is also driven by domestic politics, as officials jockey for position ahead of the fast approaching, once-in-a-decade leadership transition.

"The party is skilled at manipulating such public opinion . . . and the signs that these demonstrations were organized by the government is very high," said Liu Junning, a former researcher at a government-related think tank and now an independent political analyst. "The protests come when the leaders need one to come, and the protests will stop when they want them to stop."

Yesterday, Chinese officials sent signals that they were looking to taper the protests over the disputed islands, called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China, especially in the face of economic impact to China-Japan trade.

Some Japanese companies temporarily shut down their factories in China yesterday; there were reports of work stoppages for brand names such as Nissan, Mazda and Canon. Air tickets from China to Japan have reportedly been canceled en masse. Many Japanese-brand stores closed and posted Chinese flags on their doors to ward off vandals and posters swearing their love for and allegiance to China.

The precautions followed violent action by protesters on the weekend. Eggs and bottles were thrown at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, businesses' windows were smashed and Japanese cars were bashed on streets across China. In southern parts of the country, protesters clashed with riot police.

Editorials by most major state-run media in China called for restraint, "sensible patriotism" and "levelheadedness."

Authorities also significantly bulked up police presence in Beijing and threatened arrest of "unlawful" protesters in certain regions in preparation for today's anniversary of the invasion of China by the Japanese in the 1930s.