Japan brandname firms shut China plants after protest violence

[jsr]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Some major Japanese brandname firms announced factory shutdowns in China on Monday and urged expatriates to stay indoors ahead of what could be more angry protests over a territorial dispute between Asia's two biggest economies.

China's worst outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment in decades led to weekend demonstrations and violent attacks on well-known Japanese businesses such as car makers Toyota and Honda, forcing frightened Japanese into hiding and prompting Chinese state media to warn that trade relations could now be in jeopardy.

Another outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment is expected across China on Tuesday, the anniversary of Japan's 1931 occupation of parts of mainland China.

"I'm not going out today and I've asked my Chinese boyfriend to be with me all day tomorrow," said Sayo Morimoto, a 29-year-old Japanese graduate student at a university in Shenzhen.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/17/us-china-japan-idUSBRE88F00H20120917

[barnabas63]

1. holy cow...

When will this end?

[PatrynXX]

2. don't know

shall we blame the whalers?? for all it's flak the Japanese give Sea Shepherd. They still care about the Japanese and doubt they'd want this on them

[mwooldri]

3. Relations between PRC & Japan have always been rocky.

The PRC is going through a leadership change, so politics is very sensitive right now... and nothing, absolutely nothing must upset the Communist Party.

If there is anything else going on that can divert the public attention away from issues in the Communist Party, the regime will use it. In this case the nationalization of some Japanese islands in the China Sea - PRC claims sovereignty over them.

So when the to-be President of PRC goes AWOL for a while and there is this issue with some small bit of uninhabited rocks... sure the state media there is going to whip it up.

I don't know that much about Chinese politics but it is not a transparent political system. Not as bad as DPRK but it's much easier for them to cover up unfavourable events.