China and Japan, economic partners to more violence

A row over exploration for gas in the area is intensifying as both countries China and Japan need to find new sources of energy after the price of oil surged to a record this year. Japan relies on overseas supplies for 99.7 percent of its oil. In China, demand for oil, gas and other natural resources has soared as the economy tripled in a decade to $1.6 trillion.

China has called Japan’s April 13 decision to allow drilling in the disputed area a “serious provocation,'’ while Nakagawa said today the Japanese government again asked China to stop its drilling in the disputed zone.

“China needs to stop drilling in the disputed area in the East China Sea between Shanghai and the Japanese island of Okinawa and provide data on the gas fields before Japan will consider a request for joint exploration�, Nakagawa said.

Japan’s government may agree to joint drilling with China in a gas field in a disputed area in the East China Sea, Japan’s Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Shoichi Nakagawa said. Drilling with China is “one of our options,'’ Japan’s Nakagawa said at a press briefing in Tokyo. That said, joint drilling “isn’t a high priority.'’

The dispute over drilling-tract ownership adds to a list of grievances straining relations. More than 20,000 people demonstrated last weekend in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to protest what they claim is Japan’s whitewashing of wartime atrocities in China in newly released textbooks and to oppose Japan’s bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Some Web sites in China are urging another round of protests this weekend, report suggested yesterday.

With diplomatic maneuvers taking place at the highest level, China said it was trying to “cool down� the people and urged them to avoid “extreme activities�.

However, activists said that they planned further anti-Japanese demonstrations tomorrow and suggested that the rallies could reach Tiananmen Square, a hugely sensitive area.

Fearing yet more violence, police in Shanghai have sent text messages to residents spelling out what is acceptable and what is not.

“According to law, marches must obtain permission. The masses, in expressing their warm patriotic sentiments, must be orderly, rational and law-abiding. Express warm patriotic sentiments through proper channels. Obey the law. Maintain order,� it said.

Calls for a march in Shanghai tomorrow have been circulating for days on the internet and via text messages, with some suggesting times and routes through the city centre. Officials in Shanghai, China’s wealthiest and most cosmopolitan city are concerned that large-scale protests could scare off investors.

Japan’s foreign minister called on China to denounce violent anti-Japanese protests as Chinese nationalists prepared for a third weekend of demonstrations over Tokyo’s wartime aggression and its campaign for a UN Security Council seat.

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura also said Japan was looking into tightening security for its diplomats, suggesting Tokyo might post soldiers at its embassies, which now rely on local police. Japan’s mission in Beijing was targeted by an angry crowd last week.

Machimura, due to fly to Beijing on Sunday, said he would convey a demand for Chinese leaders to denounce the protests. If they fail to act, he said in Tokyo, then “then government is acknowledging its support for the demonstrations.�

Escalating tensions, Japan announced plans on Wednesday to drill for gas in disputed waters of the East China Sea. China, which also has gas claims in the area, criticized the move as a provocation and said it might take steps in response.

Beijing tried to mollify Japan yesterday, saying it was appealing to its public to avoid extremism, while Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for dialogue over the sea dispute.

At the same time, the two sides are major economic partners.

Japan has some 356 trillion yen (£149 billion) invested in the Chinese mainland, and China last year displaced the US as Japan’s biggest trading partner.