http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20050419/wl_nm/china_japan_dc

China Offers to Repair Damaged Japan Embassy

Tue Apr 19,12:27 AM ET World - Reuters



BEIJING (Reuters) - China has offered to repair the Japanese Embassy in Beijing damaged in a violent anti-Japan protest, a mission spokesman said on Tuesday, but there was no word of compensation.

Fresh Anti-Japan Protests In China
(Reuters Video)



China has witnessed three weekends of violent anti-Japan protests against a controversial Japanese school text that China says whitewashes Japan's wartime history and against Tokyo's bid for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.


More than 20 windows were broken at the embassy when thousands of demonstrators converged on April 9, a Japanese embassy spokesman said on Tuesday, adding that a company under China's Foreign Ministry had offered to do the repair work.


Asked if Japan was being compensated for the damage to its facilities, the spokesman said: "Not exactly."


"They (the Foreign Ministry-affiliated company) offered to fix the damage," he said. "My colleagues in Tokyo are thinking of how to respond to this offer."


The Japanese Ambassador's residence several kilometers (miles) away was also attacked, with windows broken and what the embassy spokesman described as "communications equipment" damaged.


Demonstrators last weekend damaged the Japanese consulate in Shanghai, smashing windows, chucking eggs, tomatoes and paint at the building, and damaging nearby cars.


The embassy spokesman said Japan was waiting for China to respond to a request for compensation for the damage to its missions.


The Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment, and the Diplomatic Services Bureau, which manages diplomatic property in China, declined to comment.


In Shanghai, more than 20 restaurants and stores were vandalized, a diplomatic source familiar with the matter said.


"We have heard from a few shops, who tell us they've received monetary compensation from the Shanghai authorities. But there's no way of telling if these shops are Japanese or Chinese-owned," he said.


Several Japanese restaurants were also attacked in Beijing and elsewhere.


(Additional reporting by Godwin Chellam in Shanghai)

Shanghai authorities 多奇妙的称呼啊...