Last Saturday, anti-Japanese demonstrations occurred in Shanghai, a city, as many people know, that probably hosts the largest population of Japanese expatriates in China with much less hostile sentiment than other Chinese cities. Reports about this event immediately topped the news sections of websites of major Western media, with such titles as "Violence flares as the Chinese rage at Japan" and so on. As a peace lover and independent thinker, I certainly oppose violence in any form taking place anywhere at anytime and naturally restrain myself from taking part in any mass movement, but I hope the Western media will report Sino-Japanese ties comprehensively and put the emphasis on solutions.

I am not turning a blind eye to a few radical actions in a series of recent protests against Japan, neither am I saying they can be justified. However, before rebuking some of the protesters' irrational behaviour, let us check who and what sparked the outburst of Chinese anger. A few months ago, Tokyo approved a new history textbook that whitewashes Japan's wartime atrocities, including the massacre of tens - possibly hundreds - of thousands of civilians in Nanjing in 1937; the forced recruitment of "comfort women" who were made to work as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels; and the infamous Unit 731's deadly tests of biological weapons on entire Chinese villages.

Here are a few more facts ordinary foreigners may not be aware of: in August 2003, a construction worker died agonizingly after uncovering Japanese chemical weapons left over from the World War II in Heilongjiang Province; along with the bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and the history textbook issue, Japan has repeatedly claimed that the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Island and adjacent isles were Japanese. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's insistence on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours - among millions of others - Class-A war criminals of the World War II, is probably well known.

Aren't all these enough?

Again, I am not saying any violence should be used to take revenge for the offences of Japan to our sensibilities, but please imagine a criminal who never says sorry sincerely to the victims in his community bidding for a position on the city council or in the congress - how would people in Western countries react? Some may think we Chinese overacted because we were enraged. The protests and claims were carried out not just out of fury, nor even merely for patriotism, but for the whole world.

Many Western media regard Japan as a member of the free world while wrongfully labelling China a "scary authoritarian" country. They fail to realize that the anti-Japanese sentiments of Chinese are actually based on aversion to unrepentant Japan and worries about the revival of its militarism. Such worries may not be well examined but are still reasonable to some extent, because Japanese military expansionism was rooted in its geographical confinement, limited natural resources and a power-worshipping culture. These factors have not been alleviated by democratization.

As far as I know, the recent anti-Japanese campaigns were completely spontaneous acts by students and common citizens rather than, as some foreign media have imagined, being "organized" by the government. We certainly don't want to see the list of grievances between Japan and China growing or anti-Japanese sentiments running high in Asia, but we have a duty to alert the world to right-wing activities in Japan. Also we wish the international community, especially Western countries, would share in this responsibility, rather than tolerating or indulging Japanese right-wing activities out of a post Cold War strategy.