China goes low-key on arrival of first Japanese warship since WWII
ZHANJIANG, China (AFP) — The arrival of the first Japanese warship in China since World War II was so low-key many locals did not even notice the historic event taking place at their doorstep.
As the 4,650-tonne destroyer Sazanami docked in the southern port city of Zhanjiang this week, it was played down in the state-run media, in what one expert said looked like a deliberate attempt to avoid nationalist protests.
"I heard about the ship, but I don't know when it is coming," said Zhang Yue, an inhabitant of the city, after the destroyer and its 240-member crew had anchored away from the public eye at a Chinese naval base.
Zhang was not the only one to be unaware of the ship's arrival in Guangdong province, which was occupied by the French for 44 years until 1943 and then by the Japanese during the rest of World War II.
News of the Japanese military presence was generally met with a shrug of the shoulders and an "I don't know."
The arrival of Sazanami in China Tuesday -- a return visit after the Chinese missile destroyer Shenzhen anchored in Japan late last year -- is yet another sign of efforts by both governments to improve traditionally tense ties.
But Chinese people are still resentful of Japan for its brutal invasion in 1931 and its occupation of its eastern, most prosperous provinces until the end of the war in 1945.
This has led to occasional anti-Japan protests, particularly in 2005 when thousands of people took to the streets around the country.
"I think the Chinese government is so afraid of adverse popular reaction that they were bound to play this very low-key," said Richard Baum, a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He said that following anti-Chinese government riots in Tibet in March, and in the run-up to the Olympics, authorities were taking no chances with potential protests.
"They are on a very short fuse, they are very nervous, and they are not taking any chances of any popular unrest of any kind."
One Japanese media report said some events linked to the visit of the destroyer, which is expected to stay until Saturday, had been suspended due to negative public opinion in China on the arrival of the warship.
In Beijing on Tuesday, Liu Jianchao, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, assured reporters he expected the Chinese people to react positively to the ship's arrival.
But it was hard for the inhabitants of Zhanjiang to react in any way, as there were no banners welcoming Japanese sailors, local newspapers made no mention of Sazanami on the day of its arrival, and no one knew where to go if they had wanted to see the ship.
When asked where the destroyer might be docked, people pointed vaguely in the direction of a park in the south of the city that overlooked a bay where some Chinese warships were anchored.
But even in and around Haibin Park, the ship was nowhere to be seen, tucked away as it was in the military base.
Any sign of negative feeling was kept well hidden in Zhanjiang, where most locals were philosophical about the arrival of a ship they knew little about.
"Peace is better, to have friendship is better, we mustn't fight," said Li Jianhuan, a 37-year-old woman at a mall in the centre of Zhanjiang.
"Everyone in China has their different opinion about the Japanese," Zhang said.
"But it's more important to look at the cooperation between the two countries."
