Consumers should not stop buying Japanese goods, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said yesterday, acknowledging that tensions between Tokyo and Beijing could eventually harm bilateral trade.
Mr Bo said a boycott would damage the interests of consumers and producers in both countries, noting that Japanese businesses employ 9.2 million mainland workers and contributed 49 billion yuan in taxes last year, Xinhua reported.
He said the mainland would protect the interests of Japanese businesses, but that political tensions between the two risked a weakening of trade links.
'Initial signs have already emerged that the chill in political links does affect the warmth of economic ties,' Mr Bo said yesterday. After 11 years as the mainland's No1 trading partner, Japan was surpassed by Europe and the United States last year, he noted.
Mr Bo's remarks were part of an increasing effort by mainland leaders to dampen the nationalist fervour whipped up by three weekends of emotionally charged and sometimes violent anti-Japanese protests in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Leading mainland newspapers and Xinhua have carried commentaries and editorials over the past few days calling for calm and urging government officials, Communist Party members and students not to take part in protests, for the sake of stability.
There has been intense internet speculation about the likelihood of more anti-Japanese protests during the forthcoming Labour Day holiday week.
