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Bekijk Volledige Versie : China hitst jeugd op tegen Japan



Spoetnik
30-12-04, 16:36
China's angry young focus their hatred on old enemy

Anti-Japanese fury is rising among internet users - a trend the state is keen to encourage

(...)

So vitriolic and widespread are their web-based protests that the domestic media have labelled the affluent, academic and internet-savvy generation that they represent as the "angry young".

Like their namesakes in Britain in the 1950s, China's angry young men and women are the products of a fast-changing society in which rising expectations for the future contrast starkly with frustrations about the past and present. In private, their anger is amorphous, multi-faceted and idealistic. But in public, which usually means internet bulletin boards, their scope to let off steam is largely limited to nationalism. The explosive growth of the web in China, where the number of users is growing by more than 25% a year, is often cited by advocates of political reform as a source of hope for greater openness in the world's last big communist state.

But there is increasing evidence that the opposite may be true. Sites advocating democracy, religious freedom or union rights are closed down by the authorities and their operators often arrested. But there are countless sites like Mr Song's devoted to one of the few political passions permitted by the government: hatred for Japan.

(....)

While hate-mongering is a feature of extremist internet chatrooms around the world, in China such inflammatory comments appear to represent anything but a small minority. In the past two years, small anti-Japanese protests have mushroomed into nationwide campaigns through the internet and mobile phone text messages.

Mr Song believes anger is natural, given what he sees as Japan's failure to properly atone for atrocities carried out by its troops during their occupation of China. "It is not the elderly who hate Japan, but those who were born in the 70s and 80s. We have grown up in a fast-developing country, but even though our country gets stronger and stronger, we have not been able to shed the humiliations of history and the fact that our persecutor has never admitted his crimes," says the bespectacled journalist. "The killers who slaughtered our people have escaped punishment and now live comfortably. Even if the government can accept that, we cannot."

Such views are common among China's young, and they are increasingly evident at a government level. Economically, ties have never been better. Japan is China's largest business partner, with bilateral trade rising by more than 30% in 2003 to a record 130bn yen (£650m). But political relations between Asia's two most powerful nations are at their lowest point for decades

(....)

Hisahiko Okazaki, a Japanese security analyst, said China had "artificially rekindled" public hostility towards Tokyo. "The government sponsored a patriotic movement and the main target was Japan. Events had faded from people's memories, but the government revived them and made it into a national movement."

Chinese nationalist groups say it has become easier to operate since president Hu Jintao and prime minister Wen Jiabao came to power last year. "The new leadership have a stronger feeling of nationalism than their predecessors. So we have more space to carry out our activities," said Tong Zeng, founder of a group campaigning to reclaim a disputed island chain in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

(...)

With historical differences still far from solved and the two rivals increasingly competing for energy resources and political leadership in Asia, Mr Song predicts the nationalist passions of China's "angry youth" will grow.

"I think our hatred towards Japan is the inevitable consequence of growing Chinese power and democratisation," he said. "It is time that the world heard the voice of the Chinese public as well as the Chinese government. The two are not the same. You might even say they are disharmonious."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1380737,00.html

Gevaarlijke ontwikkelingen... de Chinese Draak is begint zich op te richten, klaar om het verre oosten te onderwerpen.

observer
30-12-04, 18:56
oud zeer he

bijna iedere chinees die ik ken haat de japanners ze doen wel zaken met ze maar ze zijn daarin 100x zo erg als nederlanders en duitsers

heel gevoelig