Japan-China spat hits firms

Some major Japanese brandname firms announced factory shutdowns in China on Monday and urged expatriates to stay indoors ahead of what could be more angry protests over a territorial dispute between Asia’s two biggest economies.

China’s worst outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment in decades led to weekend demonstrations and violent attacks on well-known Japanese businesses such as car makers Toyota and Honda, forcing frightened Japanese into hiding and prompting Chinese state media to warn that trade relations could now be in jeopardy.

Another outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment is expected across China today, the anniversary of Japan’s 1931 occupation of parts of mainland China.

“I’m not going out today and I’ve asked my Chinese boyfriend to be with me all day tomorrow,” said Sayo Morimoto, a 29-year-old Japanese graduate student at a university in Shenzhen.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the government would protect Japanese firms and citizens and called for protesters to obey the law.

China and Japan, which generated two-way trade of $345 billion last year, are arguing over the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, a long-standing dispute that erupted last week when the Japanese government decided to buy some of them from a private Japanese owner.

Toyota said its factories and offices were operating as normal on Monday and that it had not ordered its Japanese employees home.

Honda said it would suspend production in China starting on Tuesday for two days. Fast Retailing, Asia’s largest apparel retailer, said it had closed some of its Uniqlo outlets in China and may close yet more. Japan’s top general retailer, Seven & I Holdings, said it would close 13 Ito Yokado supermarkets and 198 7-11 convenience stores in China on Tuesday, while Sony Corp is discouraging non-essential travel to China.

Mazda Motor will halt production at its Nanjing factory, which it jointly operates with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Ford Motor, for four days. Nissan Motor suspended China production for two days, starting on Monday, sources said. “I want to leave,” said a Nissan executive, who declined to be named, in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. “Protests near my home were horrifying over the weekend.”

Panasonic said one of its plants had been sabotaged by Chinese workers and would remain closed through Tuesday. Canon will stop production at three of its four Chinese factories on Tuesday, Japanese media reports said, while All Nippon Airways reported a rise in cancellations on Japan-bound flights from China. —