China apologizes to Japan for car attack

China apologizes to Japan for car attack

Agence France Presse
Beijing

Beijing police have apologized to Japan after a car carrying a
Japanese embassy official was attacked by angry Chinese soccer
fans, the embassy said on Monday.

The car carrying Chikahito Harada, a minister at the embassy,
was hit by an unidentified object as it left the Workers' Stadium
after the Asian Cup final on Saturday night, in which Japan beat
arch rival China 3-1.

The car's back window was smashed when the object was thrown
from the crowd, fuming over defeat to a country many still
despise because of its war-time invasion of China.

"Somebody threw something at the car as it left the stadium.
The back window was broken but fortunately no-one was hurt in the
incident," an embassy official told AFP.

"The Beijing police called to apologise. This is a fact."

After the match pockets of Chinese fans burned Japanese flags
in the street and others confronted armed riot police.

In post-match incidents rare in a city where authorities
maintain strict control, fans threw bottles, shouted anti-
Japanese obscenities and demanded a boycott of Japanese goods.

At least two foreign photographers covering the scenes were
roughed up by police outside the stadium, with one needing
stitches to a head wound.

In Tokyo, China's Ambassador to Japan Wu Dawei met with
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and said Beijing had
done all it could to prevent trouble.

"We did everything we could ... There was some disorder after
the match as we could not maintain full control (of the Chinese
fans) after the match," a Japanese government official quoted Wu
as saying.

"Some supporters' behaviour was very unpleasant and they were
doing things that even the Chinese government did not want to
see," Wu added, while stopping short of making an explicit
apology.

Kawaguchi recognised the Chinese government had "made its best
efforts" to control rioting while noting it was "important to
analyse and discuss the issue of feelings of both countries'
peoples" on a long-term basis.

More than 15,000 police and soldiers were deployed throughout
the capital to keep order, including a large contingent in and
around the stadium, and Japanese fans were kept in the ground for
several hours after the match until the crowds dispersed.

Throughout the tournament Japan's team was heckled and on one
occasion their team bus was rushed by an angry mob. Tokyo issued
a formal complaint over the actions.

Chinese animosity towards Japan has festered since its imperial
armies invaded and began occupying China in September 1931.

It left when Tokyo surrendered to the Allied Forces at the end
of World War II in August 1945 with Beijing claiming the lives of
35 million Chinese were lost.