Over ten million “signatures” have been collected on online
petitions opposing Japan's bid for a permanent seat in the UN
Security Council, according to major Chinese websites on
Tuesday.
By 3:00 PM, the total number of clicks in the
campaign run by three major internet portals, sina.com, 163.com and
sohu.com, had surpassed 11.5 million.
The drive was launched by the popular websites on
March 23 two days after Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General,
appeared to back Japan for a permanent council seat. It is one
aspect of wide-ranging reforms that have been proposed to reflect
changes in the world since the UN’s creation in 1945.
According to sina.com, its petition had attracted
more than 4.8 million clicks from China and about 145,000 from 153
other countries.
Local media claimed that it is the first time so
many people have expressed such a united opinion via the internet
in China during its development over the last decade. Some websites
said they had to use additional servers to deal with the increased
traffic.
Chen Tong, editor-in-chief of sina.com, said their
petition would be presented to the UN, the Japanese Embassy in
Beijing and Chinese government departments.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said
last Thursday that he didn't think the petition was an expression
of anti-Japanese sentiments amongst the Chinese people, but a
request for Japan to review its attitude toward historical
issues.
One person, calling themselves "Maisui," posted a
message on sina.com’s bulletin board saying, "A country that does
not respect history has no future," referring to Japan.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2005)