Chinese authorities on Friday moved to limit anti-Japanese demonstrations planned for this weekend, warning activists that unapproved protests were illegal and disrupting their efforts to use the internet to organise. but not to hack into Japanese government web sitesThe moves reflect concern about the damage to China's reputation from protests in which crowds stoned Tokyo's embassy in Beijing and besieged Japanese-owned businesses. There is also concern about the risk to the Communist party of allowing protests to continue unchecked. Yeah - that's the kicker, ain't it
In Shanghai, where activists called for a rally on Saturday, police sent a text message warning against illegal protests. Beijing police issued a notice on websites warning against unapproved demonstrations and appealing to would-be protestors to express their patriotism by working or studying hard instead. Censors deleted references to events from internet bulletin boards.
Beijing has given implicit backing to demonstrations against what it sees as Japan's failure to face up to its wartime past, but it has been careful to try to stop them getting out of hand.
sets a bad precedent when people can protest violently against government lies
On Friday activists remained determined to continue their protests, though some warned against any violence against property. An organiser of the Shanghai rally said it would go ahead, and messages circulated on the internet described plans for protests in more than a dozen cities.
The protests will coincide with talks between Nobutaka Machimura, Japan's foreign minister, and Li Zhaoxing, his Chinese counterpart, aimed at reducing tension.
Check out the demographics in China - a very large cohort of single children, many of them male. That imbalance will be an explosive element in China, either pointed inward or turned loose outward. Either way, expect nationalism to be cultivated strongly by the government - forget about international socialism, this is Chinese imperial nationalism being stirred up and set loose.