Beijing Mixes Messages Over Anti-Japan Protests

The back and fourth disputes over the small Island group known as Senkaku or Diaoyu has caused many riots all over China.  Especially Beijing.  These protests have sometimes been getting violent by the looting of Toyota car dealerships and company buildings being set on fire.  Boycotts on Japanese restaurants has made it very hard for restaurant owners to maintain business.  The protests are becoming more and more violent instead of being peaceful.  Chinese people see this as defending their motherland by protesting to Japan.  Japan claims that they have owned the Islands for over a century now after purchasing these islands from private owners.  China claims that it controlled the islands before Japan’s colonial expansion in the late 19th century.  The protests haven't been stopped by the Chinese government because they use these protest in order to further their foreign policy, but now that they are getting bigger and more violent the government is planning to step in to control dangerous public outburst.  Beijing doesn't want to fight with Japan so they are trying to pressure Japan with boycotts and protests.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/world/asia/anti-japanese-protests-over-disputed-islands-continue-in-china.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes

-Zayde Contreras