Anti-Japan protests may have quieted down on the day after the anniversary of Japan's invasion of China (which is not saying much: after disappearing for two weeks, perhaps in some Las Vegas strip club, the Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping denounced Japan's decision [5]to buy disputed islands "as a farce" on Wednesday and said Tokyo should "rein in its behavior"), but that does not mean anything has been resolved, and the Chinese 1000 boat armada is still supposedly on its way to the Senkakus. Elsewhere, the US foreign department may have to promptly find an anti-Buddhist hate tape made in the US, because otherwise the attack of the US ambassador Gary Locke's car in Beijing may have to be explained using good old fashioned simmering hatred and anti-American sentiment without an actual inflamatory event. LA Times reports [6]: "The car of the U.S. ambassador to China was surrounded by a small group of demonstrators on Tuesday, who damaged the vehicle and briefly prevented it from entering the U.S. Embassy compound in Beijing. A YouTube video of the incident showed the protesters chanting slogans such as “down with the U.S. imperialists” and, in an apparent reference to the Chinese government’s purchase of U.S. government debt, “return the money!”
The five-minute video shows a black car approaching the embassy and attempting to turn into the gate. As the demonstrators surrounded the vehicle, several dozen Chinese police and uniformed guards rushed to the scene. Several water bottles were thrown at the car and one man could be seen banging on the hood of the vehicle.
The security forces quickly surrounded the automobile and pushed the demonstrators away from it.
A State Department spokesperson said Ambassador Gary Locke’s car sustained minor damage but the ambassador was unharmed. The spokesperson said the U.S. had “registered our concern” with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The U.S. Embassy is located near the Japanese Embassy, which has been targeted by thousands of Chinese protesters in recent days voicing complaints over the Japanese government’s move to purchase islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by China.
Finally, it appears someone gets it:
In an apparent reference to that dispute and the United States’ security treaty with Japan, some of the demonstrators chanted: “The U.S. government is the mastermind.”
Yesterday China already suggested [7]dumping Japanese bonds as retaliation, following our earlier hypothetical of just who is more likely t [8]o dump US paper, should America pick the wrong side to support: recall that both China and Japan now hold over $1.1 trillion in US debt. Things are increasingly looking like China may be it, further explaining why the BOJ .
Full clip of the incident: