NANJING, China -At the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, signs of Japanese wartime atrocities are everywhere. Gory photos and engraved stone tablets exhort visitors to remember that past and hold Tokyo to account.
Now, the Internet is doing the same job.
In recent weeks, organizers claim to have collected more than 24 million names on an Internet petition demanding that Japan be denied a permanent U.N. Security Council seat, claiming it has failed to apologize for wartime aggression against China.
The reported number of signers is more than a quarter of the 87 million Chinese people the government says use the Internet. The true number of people cannot be known for sure because a user could easily click the signature button thousands of times.
The petition's angry tone reflects widespread anti-Japanese sentiment among younger Chinese. And it has been publicized by news reports in a system where the Communist Party controls all media, suggesting official approval and the possibility that Beijing might cite the petition for support in opposing Japan's accession to the Security Council.
The permanent members -China, the United States, Russia, France and Britain -have veto power, and China regards Japan as its main rival in East Asia. It also could be reluctant to lose its position as the only permanent Asian member.
Tong Zeng, a leader among China's passionate and well-organized anti-Japan activists, insists China must veto Security Council membership for Japan.
How can a nation that has never apologized for its barbaric behavior gain the trust of the international community to be a Security Council member? he said. A country like this in the Security Council would be a huge threat to world peace.
Japan's campaign for a permanent council seat gained new momentum last month with reforms proposed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan that could add six new permanent members and three non-permanent members.
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The Associated Press
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The shadow of a visitor is cast on carvings of footprints of survivors of Nanjing Massacre Thursday at Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing, China. Some Chinese have created an Internet petition demanding that Japan be denied a permanent U.N. Securit
