Visiting Japan not a crime

People in Kumamoto, Japan, warmly welcomed about 2,200 Chinese tourists and cruise ship crew members from Shanghai who reached the city recently to participate in the local firework festival, hoping it would ease the tension between China and Japan. But some Chinese have opposed the visit, with a few even using offensive language against the Chinese tourists to Japan, which is not the way to express patriotism, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

Traveling to Japan is legal and nobody has the right to oppose it. Besides, a Chinese visiting Japan does not necessarily harm China's national interests. Indeed, such visits will boost Japanese business, but they will also help the Chinese economy, which too has suffered because of the Sino-Japanese tension. Considering the close trade ties between the two countries, friendly cooperation and mutually beneficiary visits will help both sides.

If Japan misuses China's friendship and hurts its interests, China will certainly pay back in the same coin. But that doesn't mean we should let a chance to restore normalcy and strengthen friendship slip by. That Japanese people warmly welcomed the Chinese tourists shows Japanese civilians and non-government organizations want to maintain peace.

The Chinese tourists to Japan have not violated any rules and those who have opposed it are no better than people who "retaliated" against Japan's provocative actions by breaking Japanese cars, even though they were owned by Chinese people. Those who buy Japanese cars or visit Japan are innocent. But people who attack their compatriots and destroy their property are committing an offense. Chinese people who try to force their compatriots to demonstrate their anti-Japanese feelings through violence are trying to misuse national sentiments.

(China Daily 10/26/2012 page9)