Japanese editorial excerpts

0 Comments | Asian Political News, August 9, 2004

TOKYO, Aug. 5 Kyodo

Selected editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

CHINESE GOVERNMENT TO BLAME FOR BOOING (The Daily Yomiuri as translated from the Yomiuri Shimbun)

It is unfortunate to see the Asian Cup soccer games being held in China marred by anti-Japanese sentiment.

''I don't care about booing (by Chinese fans against the Japanese team),'' said Japanese national team coach Zico, a Brazilian. ''But any soccer fan in the world should pay due respect when a national anthem is played.''

As Zico pointed out, Chinese soccer fans apparently went beyond the bound of ordinary behavior since they kept booing even when the Japanese national anthem was played.

Anti-Japanese sentiments were expressed in the crudest manner Saturday at Chongqing Olympic Sports Center during the game between Japan and Jordan. Some Chinese fans provoked unrest by throwing things at Japanese supporters, surrounding the bus carrying the Japanese national team and heaping abuse on them.

The Chinese government should be blamed for developing such narrow-minded nationalism among the public.

Anti-Japanese sentiment in China has spread like an epidemic since the mid-1990s. This has been particularly evident since 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, when then Chinese President Jiang Zemin's government launched a major campaign to celebrate China's victory in the anti-Japan war in an effort to strengthen patriotism and solidarity among the public.

That year, Chinese newspapers and TV programs were filled with various reports on the invasion of China and the atrocities committed there before and during World War II by the Imperial Japanese military.

Since then, patriotism in China has been taught based on anti-Japanese sentiment. A majority of Chinese soccer fans who filled Asian Cup venues are young people educated in such a way. It is unfortunate, but antagonism toward Japan has become a self-evident truth for them.

Through patriotic education, Jiang and his government have amplified the antagonism of the Chinese people toward Japan to maintain the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party's dictatorship and its ability to unify the Chinese people.

Japan tends to be used as a target for the venting of frustration by Chinese youths who are not allowed to criticize their own government.

The Chinese government may be able to learn various lessons from the Asian Cup.

In four years, it will host the Olympic Games in Beijing with its national prestige at stake. If it cannot control the unruly, bad-mannered jeering seen during the current tournament, Beijing's ability to host the Olympic Games will be questioned.

The China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League of China, carried an unusual article warning Chinese fans to show restraint in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games when the quarterfinal match between Japan and Jordan was held in Chongqing.

However, the article apparently had a limited effect on the crowd at the game held between Japan and Bahrain in Jinan on Tuesday. Saturday's final match between Japan and China will test whether the country and its people are really ready to host the Olympic Games.

(Aug. 5)