A car carrying the US ambassador to China was mildly damaged after becoming the target of boisterous anti-Japan demonstrators who were expressing outrage over a territorial dispute and marking the 81st anniversary of Japan’s invasion of China.
The State Department said in a statement on Wednesday that Ambassador Gary Locke was unhurt in Tuesday’s incident, and that diplomats have expressed concerns to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The statement said about 50 protesters surrounded Locke’s car as he tried to enter the embassy and were eventually removed by Chinese security personnel.
The incident comes amid heightened vigilance for American diplomats following violent attacks on US embassies in Libya, Yemen and Egypt. The statement said embassy officials have asked the Chinese government to do everything possible to protect American facilities and personnel.
People across China have engaged in days of furious protests over some East China Sea islands, claimed by Beijing and Tokyo, that Japan purchased last week from a private owner. The US, a close ally of Japan, has said it is staying out of the dispute, but it also been the target of Chinese anger.
On Tuesday the dispute mixed with remembrances of a 1931 incident that Japan used as a pretext to invade Manchuria, setting off a brutal occupation of China that ended only at the close of the second world war. China marks every September 18 by blowing sirens, but demonstrations such as those seen Tuesday are not routine.
