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)