Sorry seems to be the hardest word
The anti-Japanese demonstrations sweeping China mark the culmination of tension that has built up between the two countries over many months.
What precipitated the protests was a relatively minor incident: the approval by the Japanese Education Ministry of a new edition of a history textbook for use by junior-school pupils. Most demonstrators probably did not realise that the book was only used by 18 of 11,102 schools, but its appearance does mark another step in a long process of 'beautifying' Japanese history.
Besides textbooks, the bilateral relationship has been strained by a plethora of other issues. One of the most serious is the competition for natural resources. Tokyo has demanded that Beijing stop exploration for oil and gas in disputed waters in the East China Sea. Now, Japan has begun allocating gas exploration rights in an area also claimed by China.
The Sino-Japanese relationship is peculiar in that trade has grown dramatically, with China overtaking the US last year as Japan's biggest partner. However, on the political front, the situation has deteriorated.
Because of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine - which honours Japan's war dead, including Class-A war criminals - there has been no exchange of visits by national leaders since 2001. Leaders of the two countries only meet on the margins of international conferences, such as during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Santiago, Chile, last November.
Mr Koizumi has said that he wants to hold a summit with President Hu Jintao in Jakarta later this week, when both men will attend an African-Asian conference, to mend fences with China. 'A summit can be different from foreign ministerial talks,' he said, indicating that, unlike his foreign minister, he will not press China for an apology.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura on Sunday asked his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing , for an apology for damage done to Japanese property during the demonstrations. Mr Li declined, saying that 'the Chinese government has never done anything for which it has to apologise to the Japanese people'.
He indicated that Japan bore ultimate responsibility for the deterioration in bilateral relations, and cited the Taiwan issue. Beijing is incensed that Japan and the US issued a joint statement in February in which they said that Taiwan was their common security concern. To Chinese ears, it sounded very much as though Japan was saying that it would join the US and defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese attack.
Indeed, Japan has suggested that a war with China is not out of the question. In December, the Japanese cabinet adopted a new defence plan outline, which depicted China as a possible threat. The outline was issued a month after the discovery of a Chinese nuclear submarine in Japanese waters.
The call by demonstrators for a boycott of Japanese goods shows the danger of the political standoff spilling over into the economic realm. Certainly, if protests continue, there will be a slowdown in Japanese investment.
The Japanese demand for an apology appears to be an attempt to seize the moral high ground. After many years when Tokyo was constantly being asked to apologise for atrocities committed by its troops in the 1930s and 1940s, the Japanese finally had a reason for demanding an apology from China.
However, in Chinese eyes, it no doubt appears odd, to put it mildly, to attempt to put a few broken windows on a par with the death of millions, the human experiments, the chemical warfare and the degradation of young women forced into sexual servitude. But if there has been serious property damage or if Japanese people have been beaten up, then China should be willing to apologise and pay compensation.
Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator
