China-Japan row escalates as both sides demand protection of nationals

Three days after thousands of Chinese took to the streets to vent fury at Japan and its past aggression, the Japanese trade minister described China as a "scary country" and Tokyo repeated demands for a Chinese apology.

But there were also calls for calm, with Beijing's envoy to Tokyo telling Japan it had nothing to fear from his nation's economic and military rise.

The Chinese government, which largely tolerated the rare demonstration in Beijing, on Tuesday backed protesters' view that Japan should not win a Security Council seat until it faced up to its bloody past.

"Only a country that respects the history, takes responsibility for the past history and wins over the trust of the people of Asia and the world at large can take greater responsibilities in the international community," Premier Wen Jiabao said on a visit to fellow Security Council aspirant India.

"I think the whole issue in China-Japan relations is that Japan needs to face up to history squarely," said Wen, whose nation is the only Asian power with a veto-wielding UN seat.

Japan has made winning a prestigious UN seat a key foreign policy goal to show it is a global power 60 years after its defeat in war.

Tokyo's global aspirations and its approval last week of a nationalist history textbook have triggered fresh bitterness in China, which suffered a brutal occupation by Japan from 1933 to 1945.

But Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dismissed as "wrong" the idea that Japan ignited the rallies through the way it remembers its past.