TOKYO — Fueled by anger over unfinished historical business, an anti-Japanese wave continued rippling across China on Sunday, a stone-throwing, flag-burning rampage that shows the grip old grievances and violence still hold over Asia's greatest powers.
Japan called in China's ambassador in Tokyo to demand an apology and compensation for vandalism against Japanese targets in several Chinese cities. But the widening anger of the Chinese street against Japan, which most observers say has arisen with the tacit consent of Beijing, represents a collision of nationalist forces in both countries.
Fury has been building in China as well as in South Korea since last week, when Tokyo approved new junior high history textbooks that soften previous descriptions of Japan's wartime brutality across Asia. Both countries complain that Japan is methodically recanting admissions of guilt for crimes committed during its imperial conquests of the first half of the 20th century.
But strains between Japan and its neighbors have intensified over other long-standing issues, including rival claims to islands in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, and Tokyo's recent pledge to help the U.S. defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by Beijing.
The disputes have left Japan's official relations with China and South Korea in a fevered state, embarrassing Tokyo's conservative government and knocking it off stride as it tries to reassert itself as a global actor. In particular, the protests have raised doubts about Japan's ability to win wider support in its bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Attacks on Japanese government buildings and private businesses spread to more Chinese cities Sunday, with a crowd of 10,000 chanting anti-Japanese slogans in Shenzhen. Earlier in the day, another 10,000 demonstrators surrounded the Japanese consulate in Guangzhou.
Those protests followed Saturday's raucous demonstrations in Beijing, where stones were hurled at the Japanese Embassy, and Japanese supermarkets and restaurants were attacked. Tokyo called the attacks "gravely regrettable" and summoned China's ambassador to demand a formal apology, as well as guarantees of protection for Japanese businesses and citizens in China.
Wang Yi, China's ambassador to Japan, told reporters in Tokyo that Beijing did not endorse the violence. But he did not apologize. Wire services quoted Chinese government spokesman Qin Gang in Beijing warning that "the Japanese side must earnestly and properly treat major issues that relate to Chinese people's feelings such as the history of invasion against China."
