As many as 1,000 anti-Japanese demonstrators took to the streets of Wuhan, the capital of China's central Hubei province, on Monday, chanting slogans to vent their anger at Tokyo amid a heavy police presence, witnesses said.

Hong Kong media reported that the protesters clashed with police, attacked a Japanese-owned shop and flipped over and damaged a Japanese-brand car.

Armed police with riot shields also guarded an outlet of Japanese retailer Ito-Yokado in Chengdu, Sichuan, where windows were smashed in a rally Saturday, in one of four anti-Japanese demonstrations at the weekend.

The protests, which appeared to have caught Chinese authorities by surprise, were the largest since 2005, when Japan's then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi stoked fury by visiting the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo.

On the government front, too, tensions between the Asian giants, triggered by Japan's arrest last month of a Chinese skipper, showed no sign of abating, with Tokyo's foreign minister labelling Beijing's reaction "hysterical".

Both nations have sought to arrange a premiers' summit later this month to ease their worst spat in years, but weekend street protests in both countries highlighted how the issue has inflamed nationalist passions.

Thousands of mostly young Chinese demonstrators took to the streets of at least four cities at the weekend to assert China's claim to a disputed island chain where the maritime incident six weeks ago kicked off the diplomatic row.

In the protests -- apparently organised on the Internet and via text messages following an anti-Chinese rally in Tokyo Saturday -- demonstrators smashed windows of Japanese businesses including a Panasonic outlet and an Isetan department store, and attacked Japanese-brand cars, news reports said.

Japanese media said the protests broke out mostly in more lightly policed inland cities far from the capital, while political leaders were in Beijing for a Communist party congress.

Asia's two biggest economies and traditional rivals have been embroiled in their worst feud in years, which has continued despite the release of the detained captain.

He was held near an uninhabited island chain, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, between Japan's Okinawa island and Taiwan, in a part of the East China Sea with rich fishing grounds and thought to contain energy deposits.

Japan's Kan said late Monday the government would release video footage of the collisions, although it was not immediately clear whether only parliamentarians or the public would be allowed to see it.

During the row China has issued a barrage of protests and angry editorials in state media, while also taking punitive economic steps, including allegedly halting the export of rare earths minerals crucial for high-tech products.

"I think the countermeasures China has taken are extremely hysterical," said Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, known as a China hawk.

"As for the rare earth issue, the Chinese commerce ministry says they haven't taken such a measure, but we still can't conclude at this moment that shipments have returned to normal," he told parliament.

Kan told parliament that "the government has expressed its regret over the demonstrations against Japan," adding that Tokyo has asked "that Japanese nationals and companies be protected".

On a conciliatory note, he said Sino-Japanese ties are "a very important bilateral relationship" and in the evening said that the street protests were not likely to affect Sino-Japanese relations.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said after Saturday's protests: "It is understandable that some people expressed their outrage against the recent erroneous words and deeds on the Japanese side."

But, apparently seeking to calm the situation, Ma added: "We maintain that patriotism should be expressed rationally and in line with law. We don't agree with irrational actions that violate laws and regulations."

Meanwhile in comments likely to inflame Chinese opinion, Japan's conservative former prime minister Shinzo Abe accused China of following a modern-day policy of "lebensraum" with its growing assertiveness over disputed territories.

"Lebensraum," or "living space," was a key tenet in the philosophy of Adolf Hitler who believed that Germany deserved space in which to grow.

In an address late last week in Washington, Abe said China is building a 'strategic frontier'.

"This very dangerous idea posits that borders and exclusive economic zones are determined by national power, and that as long as China's economy continues to grow, its sphere of influence will continue to expand.

"Some might associate this with the German concept of 'lebensraum,'" Abe, who was prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and remains a lawmaker, said.

burs-oh-mis-fz/apj/boc

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News