More than 10 million people have signed an online petition to oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, according to statistics from major Chinese Websites yesterday.
By 3pm yesterday, the total number of people who signed on the three major Chinese Internet portals, sina.com, 163.com and sohu.com, had surpassed 11.5 million.
The signature drive was launched two days after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appeared to back Japan for a permanent council seat on March 21 as part of the most wide-ranging reforms to the world body since its creation in 1945.
According to the signature diagram of sina.com, more than 4.8 million Chinese signed its petition. About 145,000 people from 153 countries and regions also signed on sina.com.
It is the first ever large-scale signing activity in which so many people are united in their opinions since the Internet began developing in China nearly 10 years ago, according to local media. Some Websites even added servers to prevent the Internet jam, probably caused by the online signing campaign.
Chen tong, editor-in-chief of sina.com, said that the portal's petition would be presented to the UN, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and relevant Chinese government departments.
He also elaborated the purpose of the campaign: First, it reflected the public opinion that a great number of people oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council; second, the Chinese people hope the Japanese government will review its policies toward China in recent years as well as its attitude toward history.
Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said last week that he didn't think the online petition was an anti-Japanese passion. He said he believed instead that it is a request for Japan to take a correct and responsible attitude toward historical issues.