Yesterday while sitting in stop-and-go traffic on one of Beijing’s many freeways, I spotted this on the back of a Nissan SUV. It’s a home-made sticker, covering up the Nissan logo. It says:
“The Diaoyu Islands belong to China! This car belongs to me!”
Translation: DON’T SMASH MY CAR JUST BECAUSE IT IS A JAPANESE BRAND. IT IS OWNED BY ME, A PATRIOTIC CHINESE CITIZEN.
No doubt the driver was hoping to avoid the fate of some other owners of Japanese cars over the weekend.
In case you missed it, there were violent demonstrations all over China this weekend related to a dispute between China and Japan over the ownership of some pieces of rock in the ocean.
There”s a good write-up of the action in the Toronto Globe and Mail:
Six days of sanctioned anti-Japanese protests – which escalated Sunday into a nationwide day of rage that saw Japanese businesses and diplomatic missions attacked – have whipped up hatred and created a situation that leaves the Chinese leadership little room to compromise in a showdown over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who is on the verge of calling an election that will see him challenged from the nationalist right, similarly has little room to negotiate.
Never a dull moment in Beijing, that’s for sure.
(2nd image source: National Post)