From The International Herald Tribune:
There could scarcely be a sharper contrast than between the bonhomie displayed by China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, on his current tour of South Asia and China’s behavior towards its North Asian neighbor, Japan. The anti-Japanese demonstrations during the weekend, and some only slightly less nationalistic outbursts in South Korea, are not just forewarnings of future tensions in the region. They have implications for global governance and the United Nations system – in which India, in particular, would like to play a larger role.
The demonstrations in China may have got out of hand, but there is no doubt that they were initiated with the connivance of the authorities. While the old issue of Japanese school textbook versions of Japan’s occupation of China was one pretext, the main trigger was Japan’s push to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
