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INDEPTH: CHINA
China - Japan disputes
CBC News Online | July 15, 2005

October 17, 2005:
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pays homage to Japans war dead at the controversial Yasukuni shrine, sparking protests in Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul. Chinese officials call the visit a "grave provocation to the Chinese people." Japans neighbours consider the visits a glorification of the countrys wartime past. Koizumi rejects the charge, saying he is praying for peace and outsiders should not interfere with the way Japan mourns its war dead.

July 15, 2005:
China lodges a strong protest with Japan after it allows a company to test-drill in the disputed waters of the East China Sea. Beijing calls the move an infringement on Chinas sovereign rights and interests. Japan considers the waters to be part of its exclusive economic zone but China claims them as its own.

May 24, 2005:
China blames Japan for the abrupt end of a visit by Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi to Tokyo. The eight-day visit had been aimed at improving relations between the two countries. Beijing says it recalled Wu because of comments made by Japanese leaders about Tokyo's controversial Yakusuni shrine. China says visits to the shrine, which honours the war dead, offend China's sensibilities and pay tribute to Japan's militaristic past. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejects the charge, saying Japan has proved its peaceful nature by not attacking anyone since the end of the Second World War. He reiterates his intentions to continue to visit the shrine.

May 23, 2005:
China cuts short a visit to Tokyo by Chinese Vice-President Wu Yi, cancelling a meeting between Wu and Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. It gives no reason why. Japanese officials denounce the abrupt cancellation, saying it lacked manners, and demand an apology.

May 17, 2005:
Top-level Chinese politician Wu Yi arrives in Japan for an eight-day visit designed to repair strained relations between Beijing and Tokyo. Vice-Premier Wu is considered one of China's top "problem-solvers," analysts say. It's the first trip to Japan by a top Chinese leader in more than a year. It follows a visit by Japan's Vice-Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi and his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo in Beijing earlier in the month.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (left) with Chinese President Hu Jintao (right) just before their meeting in Jakarta, Saturday. (AP Photo)

April 24, 2005:
In a bid to improve deteriorating relations between their two countries, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi hold a one-hour meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta. Afterward, both sides pledge to continue working toward strengthening the relationship.

April 22, 2005:
Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, apologizes for his country's actions during the Second World War, expressing deep regret for damage and suffering caused by colonial rule and aggression. Chinese officials respond by saying Japan's words should match its actions, a reference to a visit earlier in the day by Japanese lawmakers to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan's war dead, including war criminals. Japanese leaders have issued similar expressions of regret in the past.

April 21, 2005:
China warns its citizens not to engage in illegal behaviour during marches, a move apparently designed to cool anti-Japan sentiment. Beijing also dispatches retired diplomats to university campuses to lecture students on the importance of China's relationship with Japan. About 1 million Chinese are employed by Japanese firms, and about 16,000 Japanese companies trade with China.

Thousands of anti-Japanese protesters march through the street, April 16, 2005, in Shanghai, China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

April 19, 2005:
China refuses to apologize for widespread anti-Japanese protests throughout the country. The Chinese are angry at changes to Japanese history textbooks, approved April 5. The protesters also oppose Japan's bid to win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. In addition to seeking an apology, Japan demands compensation for Japanese property damaged during the demonstrations and warns that the dispute could harm trade between the two countries, worth about $178 billion US annually.

April 16-17, 2005:
For the third consecutive weekend Chinese crowds hold anti-Japanese rallies across the country and call for a boycott of Japanese goods. As many as 20,000 march in Shanghai, throwing eggs and rocks at the Japanese Consulate. Protesters hurl rocks and paint at the consulate in the northeastern industrial city of Shenyang. Rallies and protests are also held in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Zhuhai and Dongguan.

April 13, 2005:
Japan says it will allow Japanese gas companies to explore in an area of the East China Sea claimed by both countries. The giant oil and gas field is estimated to hold up to 200 billion cubic metres of gas. The small group of islands at the heart of the dispute is called Diauyu by the Chinese and Senkaku by the Japanese.

April 9-10, 2005:
Protests erupt in several Chinese cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the wake of Japan's new textbooks approved in early April. In Beijing, 10,000 demonstrators march through the streets and protesters throw stones at Japan's embassy. The protests are the largest in Beijing since 1999. The Japanese government appeals for protection. China says the protests are unauthorized.

April 5, 2005:
Japan approves new history textbooks that China and South Korea say whitewash atrocities committed by Japan before and during the Second World War. The textbooks condense or omit references in earlier textbooks to the forced wartime prostitution of Asian women and the Japanese military's germ warfare. They refer to the notorious 1937 Nanjing massacre – during which hundreds of thousands of Chinese were killed during a six-week spree of murder and rape – as an "incident." South Korea also protests the characterization of disputed islands known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

VIEWPOINT:

Sylvia Yu: Hating Japan

Feb. 28, 2005:
Chinese groups launch a petition against Japan's longstanding bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The petition is picked up by popular internet portals in China. A month later, over 22 million Chinese have signed, according to state news agency Xinhua. In Chengdu, anti-Japanese crowds smash the windows of Japanese department stores and in Shenzhen, 3,000 march, calling for a boycott of Japanese goods.

Feb. 20, 2005:
Chinese officials are infuriated when Japan and the U.S. issue a joint statement declaring Taiwan a common security issue and calling for peaceful dialogue to resolve its future status. The self-ruled island split with the Communist mainland in 1949. China does not recognize Taiwan's independence and is committed to reunification. On March 14, 2005, China's parliament passes a law authorizing the use of force against Taiwan if the island formally declares independence.

Jan. 26, 2005:
China becomes Japan's largest trading partner, replacing the U.S., according to data released by the Japanese Finance Ministry for 2004. Japan had been China's largest trading partner but fell to third place in 2004, after the EU and U.S. The skyrocketing Chinese economy helped fuel the boost in trade with other countries. In the first four months of 2005, China's economy grew by a staggering 9.5 per cent, renewing Beijing's fears of an overheated economy.

Dec. 10, 2004:
Japan unveils its new defence policy, allowing its armed forces a bigger role in global military co-operation, but reaffirming its pacifist constitution.

Nov. 22, 2004:
China's president Hu Jintao tells Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that his repeated visits to a controversial war shrine, which he began in 2001, are the main obstacle to better relations between the two countries. Japan's Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated to the souls of the war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals.

Nov. 10, 2004: Japan detects a submarine inside its waters near the southern island of Okinawa and the country's navy goes on alert for the first time since 1999. Japan and China both claim ownership of nearby islands and gas fields called Senkaku by the Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. A week later Japan says it has received an apology from the Chinese, who said the sub mistakenly strayed off course.

Aug. 7, 2004:
The Asian Cup soccer tournament in Beijing turns ugly when Chinese fans throw garbage at Japanese players during the games. Japan wins the tournament in a tense final game as thousands of police and soldiers guard Japanese fans and players. After their team loses, hundreds of Chinese supporters throw bottles and burn Japan flags.

February 2004:
Japan sends non-combat soldiers to Iraq, in its first deployment to a combat zone since the Second World War.

Oct. 8, 2001:
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pays a one-day working visit to China, where he issues an apology to Chinese victims of Japan's wartime aggression. It is his last visit to date.

August 2001:
Four months after becoming new Liberal Democratic party leader and prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi pays homage at the Yasukuni Shrine – dedicated to the country's war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals – provoking protests from Japan's neighbours. Koizumi is the first prime minister to visit the shrine since the 1980s, a move commentators say is designed to appease the country's right. His repeated visits to the shrine become a major point of irritation between China and Japan.

November 1998:
Chinese President Jiang Zemin pays a state visit to Japan, the last such high-level visit to date.

Sept. 29, 1972:
China and Japan resume diplomatic relations, severed during the Second World War.

Aug. 15, 1945:
Japan surrenders after atomic bombs dropped by the U.S. kill 140,000 in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki.

May 8, 1945:
Fighting ends in Europe.Dec. 7, 1941:
Japan attacks U.S. forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing nearly 3,000 deaths. The attack brings the U.S. into the war.

Sept. 1, 1939:
Germany invades Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declare war on Germany, and the Second World War begins.

July 7, 1937:
Japan invades China, after invading Manchuria in 1931. Japanese forces take Beijing and Shanghai and, later, the capital of Nanjing (Nanking). Between December 1937 and March 1938, up to 300,000 civilians, mostly women and children, are killed in a savage spree of rape and murder. The so-called Rape of Nanjing is seen as a symbol of Japanese aggression and was one of the worst massacres of modern times. During the war, Japan also practised biological and chemical warfare on Chinese civilians. At the height of the war Japan occupied parts of Korea, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

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RELATED COVERAGE:

Background on the pre-existing tension between China and Japan from The Hour. (Real Video runs 1:47)

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CIA World Factbook: China

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