It is a fortnight now that people in the Chinese capital and some other cities are on the street protesting against what they say a failure of Japan in coming in terms with the reality. The present anti-Japanese mood in East Asia showing its extreme form in China, however, did not start in that country. It was in February that South Koreans became angry and extremely annoyed by the decision of a local government in western Japan that called for setting a specific date for observing Takeshima Day. Takeshima is a group of small rocky islets off the coast of Sea of Japan, which is claimed by both Japan and South Korea. The uninhabited rocks on the sea did not carry much significance for any of the two claimants, until it became clear that a revised international treaty allows the extension of a country's exclusive economic zone up to a significant portion, which eventually becomes economically beneficial.

Takeshima, known in South Korea as Tok-do, first became a focus of territorial dispute in early 1950s, when Japan and South Korea both claimed sovereignty over the rocks. The local assembly of Japan's Shimane prefecture adopted a resolution in early February designating February 22 as Takeshima Day. The assembly claims that Takeshima was integrated to the prefecture on that day exactly one hundred years ago, and it was natural for the prefecture to reclaim its lost territory. But the decision angered South Koreans and there is no end of anti-Japanese rallies in the country from then on. The situation worsened further when Japan sent fighter planes that flew over the islets to make observation of the presence of South Korean vessels around its water.

But the demonstrations in South Korea, though in times gearing up by rhetorical calls from nationalists leaders, have so far been kept under control. China joined the rank of anti Japanese public demonstration a bit later. The fuel in China's case was approval of a number of school textbooks in Japan that take a revisionist line on country's past involvements in the affairs of her neighbours.

The textbooks for junior high school students include some compiled by a nationalist group called the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform. The texts were first approved in 2001, triggering outrage from China and South Korea. Japan's neighbours were annoyed again when the education ministry recently approved a new set of history and civic studies textbooks that they say justify Japan's past military aggression. A textbook on civics infuriated South Korea by saying Takeshima Island was a Japanese territory that was being illegally occupied by South Korea. South Korea's foreign and trade minister Ban Ki Moon demanded that Japan delete from the textbook descriptions of Takeshima as Japanese territory.

China faulted the history book by citing an overly positive approach to Japan's past military aggression. The book avoids the word 'invasion' in describing Japan's military occupation of East Asia. It also refers to the 1937 Nanjing Massacre simply as an incident in which 'many' Chinese were killed. Historians usually do not disagree in mentioning the incident as a massacre in which thousands of civilians were slaughtered by the advancing Japanese troops. New sidebars added in the approved history textbook also say that Japanese action inspired people in Asia and that Indonesians welcomed Japanese soldiers as liberators.

Altogether 124 passages of the book were rewritten under the instruction of the screening committee and most deal with Japan's relations with her Asian neighbours. No doubt the feelings of ordinary Chinese and Koreans were greatly hurt by the action of a group of Japanese intellectuals who are playing crucial role in refocusing on what they call a glorious chapter in country's recent past. But it might be true that even they did not foresee that their action would plunge Japan's relations with China to all time low. To many in Japan and elsewhere, the reaction in China came as a surprise as the Chinese society is still under communist rule where any public action comes under strict scrutiny of the administration. Japanese are therefore wondering what has been the real motive of the Chinese government in fuelling the anti-Japanese sentiment.

For China the public outrage came at a time when the leadership was increasingly becoming confident of its dominant position in the region. China was anxiously watching various moves taken by the Japanese government in recent days, including Tokyo's closer strategic ties with Washington and Japan's bid to become an important player in regional power politics by becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The textbook controversy provided Beijing with an excellent opportunity to give a clear signal to Japan of her standing on such issue, and the Chinese leadership was quick to grab that opportunity as we have seen how the discontent against Japan spread swiftly all over the country.

The recent incidents also have shown how vulnerable Japan's position in the region is. It has become clear again that in East Asia Japan does not have a true friend to depend on. Only recently it was the North Korean leadership that proclaimed loudly that Japan was the odd country in the region having serious disputes with all her neighbours. Pyongyang must be feeling relieved that despite a call from some quarters in Japan to impose economic sanction against North Korea, the tide has now turned against the initiator of such a call.

What has started as a relatively insignificant matter of revising textbooks for school children is now poised to plunder Japan's decade-long effort to see the country having a place among world leaders. Putting a barrier on Japan's aspiration to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council will not benefit the world that needs Tokyo's assistance in solving various pressing problems. It would, therefore, be better for all if both, the Chinese leadership as well as the hawkish nationalists in Japan, realise this reality without wasting much time.