China's nationalist fervor against Japan is grounded in Japan's brutal occupation of much of China in 1931-45. In one assault alone, the sacking of the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing in 1937, Japanese troops killed up to 300,000 men, women and children.
The recent grievances:
China's:
_ Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to the Yasukuni shrine, where Japanese war dead, including war criminals, are remembered.
_ Tokyo in December granted a visa for former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to spend holidays in Japan. Chinese authorities see Lee as an architect of Taiwan's push for independence.
_ A Japanese Defense Outlook paper in January listed China as a potential military concern.
Japan's:
_ Japan detected a Chinese submarine in its territorial waters on Nov. 10.
_ Chinese police squads stood by in August when riots broke out after a Japanese soccer team played a match in China.
_ Many Japanese feel that China communist leaders tolerate anti-Japanese sentiment as an outlet for frustrations about other issues.
Today:
An annual poll by Japan's Cabinet Office, released in December, showed that about six out of 10 Japanese view China unfavorably.
A similar poll in China found the number of Chinese with unfriendly feelings toward Japan rose from 43 percent last year to 53 percent this year.
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(c) 2005, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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