China made clear today it would not tolerate more anti-Japanese protests and also urged its citizens not to boycott Japanese products, orchestrating an effort to clamp down on rising nationalist anger.
In response to three successive weekends of raucous anti-Japanese street demonstrations, the Ministry of Public Security announced that “unauthorized marches” are illegal and warned that the police “would mete out tough blows” to marchers caught vandalizing property.
Meanwhile, the commerce minister, Bo Xilai, warned that a campaign to boycott Japanese products would hurt both Japan and China and urged citizens not to jeopardize the country’s economic development.
“We don’t expect the economic and trade relations between the two countries to be infringed upon,” said Mr. Bo, according to the official New China News Agency.