BEIJING — Protesters in several cities across China marked a politically sensitive anniversary with anti-Japan chants and banners, as authorities tried to stop anger over a diplomatic spat between the Asian giants from getting out of control.
Anti-Japanese sentiment in China has been inflamed in recent weeks by Japan’s arrest of a Chinese captain after his fishing boat collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels in waters near an island group claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing.
Japan has returned the boat and its crew but still holds the captain.
China’s ruling Communist Party partly encourages anti-Japanese sentiment but had worked in recent days to keep people from demonstrating Saturday, the anniversary of the start of a brutal Japanese invasion in 1931.
