Fresh anti-Japan protests
have erupted in China over disputed islands amid raised tension on the
anniversary of Japan's invasion of north-east China.
Thousands of protesters chanted slogan outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing as riot police lined the streets.Japan's coast guard says several Chinese ships are in waters near the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, Japanese media report.
This follows a brief landing by two Japanese activists earlier on Tuesday.
The islands have long been a point of contention and recent tension has led to fears of a naval conflict.
The latest developments fall on a politically sensitive anniversary, which marks what is known as the ''Mukden incident''.
On 18 September 1931, Japanese soldiers blew
up a railway in Manchuria, blaming it on dissidents. This was later
revealed to be a pretext for the invasion of north-east China.
China's defence minister told reporters after meeting US
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, that China hoped for a peaceful
resolution to the dispute with Japan, Chinese state media reported."We reserve the right to take further actions, although we hope to settle the issue through peaceful negotiation," said Liang Guanglie.
Mr Panetta was in Beijing for talks with his counterpart and top Chinese leaders. He did not mention the dispute, but called for closer military contact between the US and China.
"Our goal is to have the United States and China establish the most important bilateral relationship in the world, and the key to that is to establish a strong military-to-military relationship," he said.
However, Mr Panetta, who was in Tokyo on Monday, had earlier warned of the potential for the conflict to escalate and urged both sides to show restraint.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19632042
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