Under Japan's previous conservative leadership "the Japanese and Chinese governments had a secret agreement to manage an emergency" involving the islands in the East China Sea, said the Asahi Shimbun's Aera magazine.

The chain of uninhabited islands, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, has been at the centre of a bitter territorial row since Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain nearby on September 8.

Aera magazine reported that under Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled for half a century until last year, Tokyo and Beijing had made "secret promises" to each other over the territorial issue.

"Under the secret promises, Japan was in principle to prevent landings (of Chinese nationals) on the islets and not to detain them unless it develops into a case of grave concerns," the magazine said, citing unnamed government sources.

"The Chinese side promised to block (anti-Japanese) protesters' boats from sailing off to reach the islands," the weekly added.

In an illustrative case, Japan in 2004 immediately deported seven Chinese activists who had landed on one of the rocky islands, Aera said.

When power changed in Japan last summer, the earlier promises may not have been mentioned to the new centre-left Democratic Party of Japan government, an unnamed government source was quoted as saying by Aera.

The current row started when Japan arrested a Chinese skipper in disputed waters, after his boat collided with two Japanese coastguard vessels, detaining him for more than two weeks.

The move triggered a barrage of protests, diplomatic snubs and punitive economic measures against Japan by China, where protesters staged anti-Japanese rallies at the weekend.

earlier related report
China-Japan row simmers after weekend street protests
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 18, 2010 - Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged China on Monday to guarantee the safety of Japanese companies and citizens after a wave of rowdy weekend protests sparked by a bitter territorial row.

The war of words between the Asian giants, triggered by Japan's arrest last month of a Chinese skipper in disputed waters, showed no sign of abating, with Japan'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 to assert China's claim to a disputed island chain where a maritime incident six weeks ago kicked off the heated diplomatic dispute.

Another small protest broke out Monday in China's central city of Wuhan, a local source said, without immediately providing further details.

Hong Kong media reports said that at least 100 protesters, watched by police, waved Chinese flags and called for a boycott of Japanese products.

In the weekend 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.

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.

Asia's two biggest economies and traditional rivals have been embroiled in the worst feud in years after Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain near the disputed islands on September 8, although it later released him.

The uninhabited island chain, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, lies 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.

China has issued a barrage of protests and angry editorials in its 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.

Beijing and Tokyo have sought to repair their relationship, and possibly hold a summit later this month, but the weekend protests in both countries showed the incident has reawakened historical animosities in some quarters.

"The government has expressed its regret over the demonstrations against Japan," Kan told parliament, 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 that "both sides need to make efforts to handle the situation calmly so as to seek a strategic mutually beneficial relationship".

Thousands marched on Saturday in the Chinese southwestern city of Chengdu, the central city of Zhengzhou and the ancient capital of Xian. On Sunday, demonstrators gathered in Mianyang in the southwest.

"About 10,000 youths marched down the street outside our shop," a woman in Zhengzhou told AFP. "They were shouting 'Defend the Diaoyu islands' and 'Boycott Japanese goods'," said the woman, who declined to give her name.

After the first protests Saturday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said: "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."

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, possibly catching authorities by surprise.

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