Chinese protests

In this day and age I don't esxpect the US media to be any less biased about China than they are, say, about Russia.

China to protesters: 'Please express your patriotism in a rational and orderly fashion'

Chinese protesters followed the rules on Tuesday, obediently forming small groups and awaiting their turn to march past the Japanese embassy to express anger over disputed islands.

Christian Science Monitor,

18 September, 2012

The first sign of just how closely the Chinese authorities were monitoring and controlling today’s anti-Japanese demonstrations here came on my cellphone.

It was an SMS from the Beijing police. Barely had I arrived in the vicinity of the Japanese embassy, the target of a fourth day of protests over a territorial dispute, than the message popped up on my screen.

“The Beijing Public Security Bureau reminds you to please express your patriotism in a rational and orderly fashion and to follow police instructions. Thank you for your cooperation,” it read.

The Chinese government was clearly anxious that Tuesday’s demonstrations, marking the anniversary of the incident that sparked Japan’s 1931 occupation of Northeastern China, should not turn violent, as had happened over the weekend.

The protesters, mostly young men, many waving red and gold Chinese flags or portraits of Mao Zedong, were doing as they were told by organizers. Obediently they formed up in small groups and awaited their turn to march past the embassy, where they slowed down just long enough to throw bottles of water at the gates.

Any hotheads in the crowd who might have wanted to do more were dissuaded by the sight of helmeted riot police standing shoulder to shoulder along the roadside, reinforcing thousands of police officers who were making sure, megaphones in hand, that everybody kept moving. Also reinforcing the police were civilian security volunteers wearing armbands, and reinforcing them were dayglo-orange-waistcoated traffic wardens.

Then the protesters marched on down the street in glorious late summer sunshine, chanting slogans such as “Japanese dogs out of China,” or “China wake up,” and even reminding themselves, in unison, to “listen to orders.”

A block down the street they turned around, marched back down the way they had come, then turned around once more and started all over again.

“I’ve been round three times already and I won’t go home until everybody else does,” said Zhang Chong, a young clothes vendor, his cheek decorated with a Chinese flag decal.

“We didn’t lose the Diaoyu islands in Mao Zedong’s time and we will not allow them to be lost by our generation,” Mr. Zhang said, explaining why he had taken to the streets.

The worst outbreak of anti-Japanese sentiment for many years was sparked last week when the Japanese government bought three of the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known here as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku. China claims sovereignty over the islands, which are under Japanese control and were privately owned until last week.

The Chinese government responded by fiercely denouncing the purchase, formally specifying the geographical coordinates of the waters that it claims around the islands, sending surveillance vessels to the islands and sanctioning anti-Japanese demonstrations around the country, some of which torched Japanese-owned businesses on Saturday.

Nothing like that was to be allowed on Tuesday, it was clear. As the protesters approached the Japanese embassy, a loudspeaker mounted on a police car played them a tape loop: “The Chinese government shares the people’s feelings” a woman’s voice assured them. “The government has made it clear it will not accept any territorial infringement. But once you have expressed yourself, please move on.”

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor’s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

Chinese Protesters Chant "Down With US Imperialists", Attack Car Of US Ambassador In Beijing

Zero Hedge,

19 September, 2012

Anti-Japan protests may have quieted down on the day after the anniversary of Japan's invasion of China (which is not saying much: after disappearing for two weeks, perhaps in some Las Vegas strip club, the Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping denounced Japan's decision to buy disputed islands "as a farce" on Wednesday and said Tokyo should "rein in its behavior"), but that does not mean anything has been resolved, and the Chinese 1000 boat armada is still supposedly on its way to the Senkakus. 

Elsewhere, the US foreign department may have to promptly find an anti-Buddhist hate tape made in the US, because otherwise the attack of the US ambassador Gary Locke's car in Beijing may have to be explained using good old fashioned simmering hatred and anti-American sentiment without an actual inflamatory event. 

LA Times reports: "The car of the U.S. ambassador to China was surrounded by a small group of demonstrators on Tuesday, who damaged the vehicle and briefly prevented it from entering the U.S. Embassy compound in Beijing. A YouTube video of the incident showed the protesters chanting slogans such as “down with the U.S. imperialists” and, in an apparent reference to the Chinese government’s purchase of U.S. government debt, “return the money!”

The five-minute video shows a black car approaching the embassy and attempting to turn into the gate. As the demonstrators surrounded the vehicle, several dozen Chinese police and uniformed guards rushed to the scene. Several water bottles were thrown at the car and one man could be seen banging on the hood of the vehicle.

The security forces quickly surrounded the automobile and pushed the demonstrators away from it.

A State Department spokesperson said Ambassador Gary Locke’s car sustained minor damage but the ambassador was unharmed. The spokesperson said the U.S. had “registered our concern” with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The U.S. Embassy is located near the Japanese Embassy, which has been targeted by thousands of Chinese protesters in recent days voicing complaints over the Japanese government’s move to purchase islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by China.

Finally, it appears someone gets it:

In an apparent reference to that dispute and the United States’ security treaty with Japan, some of the demonstrators chanted: “The U.S. government is the mastermind.”

Yesterday China already suggested dumping Japanese bonds as retaliation, following our earlier hypothetical of just who is more likely to dump US paper, should America pick the wrong side to support: recall that both China and Japan now hold over $1.1 trillion in US debt. Things are increasingly looking like China may be it, further explaining why the BOJ .

Full clip of the incident: