Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Sunday that the responsibility for the current situation of Sino-Japanese relations does not lie with China.?

Qin said, "Japan must adopt an earnest attitude and appropriate ways to deal with major issues of principle concerning the feelings of the Chinese people. The Japanese have to do more things conducive to enhancing mutual trust and maintaining the relations between the two countries, rather than doing the reverse."

 

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura on Sunday demanded an official apology and compensation from China for Saturday's attack on the Japanese embassy in Beijing by demonstrators.

 

Qin said that the Chinese government has been appealing to demonstrators to remain calm and sane and to express their opinions in a lawful and orderly way.

 

He said the government has done a great deal to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and organizations in China, and that it does not want so see the very few radical actions that occurred during the demonstrations in Beijing.

 

On Saturday, thousands of protestors gathered at the Hailong shopping center in Beijing's Haidian District, carrying banners decrying Japan's distortion of its wartime past in newly approved history textbooks and its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

 

Participants called out slogans such as "Boycott Japanese products," "Protect the Diaoyu Islands" and "Smash Japan's daydream of seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council" as they marched to the embassy.

 

The government mobilized a huge police force to maintain order en route.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2005)