Violence has erupted in China as a number of Japanese firms have been targeted by protests and violent attacks.
The anger has been caused by Japan buying a group of uninhabited but resource rich islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.
Ownership of the islands has been fiercely disputed with both nations laying claim to the area.
The BBC are reporting that Panasonic and Toyota have been targeted and that Panasonic has issued a statement saying it will be shutting down some of it’s factories. Canon are also reported to have shut down production.
Sony are discouraging any non-essential business travel to China and “considering whether or not to take action with regard to retail outlets and factories.”
With Sony already wallowing in massive debts and poor sales, a production problem is that last thing the beleagured company needs.
gideon1451
Aw, with that last line, Sony needs a hug.
An-dz
Japan buying them? i thought that it was always just a dispute about who owned them.
i think china are kind of being abit territory greedy though, Taiwan and Tibet being taken over and now they want japans land too.
matthangzhou
It belonged to China for hundreds of years before Japan invaded in the second world war. They were ordered to return them upon surrendering along with Taiwan which they did not.
cc_star
Considering all the major Japanese companies are tech companies they’re more heavily reliant on good relations with China than anyone.
If the islands are resource rich it’s no wonder China is paying them more attention now than they have in the past.
They’re snapping up anything that helps with their supply chain and logistic routes, from investing in Africa for mining of materials to buying up logistics routes like the panama canal and everything in between so they can be beholden to no one as the world’s manufacturing plant. All this is done at arms length from their communist ideals via the special administrative region of Hong Kong.
KeRaSh
I don’t get it. Did Japan buy the islands from China? If so it’s a deal the government made. Since when is the Chinese population pissed at anything their governent does and why is their hate directed at Japanese companies when it was the government’s descission to sell those islands.
Tuffcub
Islands were owned by a businessman I think, now they are owned by a state.
KeRaSh
Ah, thanks for the clarification. The hate still seems misdirected from an outsider’s point of view. They should blame the seller for giving away their land. If it’s that important, the Chinese government could have snagged up the islands long a long time ago.
matthangzhou
They were sold from a Japanese individual to the Japanese government thereby officially making them Japanese instead of some guys private island. The Chinese are taught in school from a young age to hate the Japanese because of WW2 especially the Nanjing massacre and now they are finally revolting the government doesn’t know what to do…
xdarkmagician
On the bright side, with the tech factories shutting down at least all the chinese children will get some free time to go play.
Tuffcub
You are a very bad man.