To the Japanese Ambassador in relation to recent anti-Japanese riots in Beijing.

First Secretary, Please forgive my writing this in English. I am the Head of the Humanities Department here at the Sino-Japanese Friendship Centre and I am writing to register my deep concern over the disturbances I saw last night. I consider such violence an indictment upon this government that incites hatred against an ethnic minority to mask its own domestic problems and isdeological emptiness, and then stands back as the flames are fed; all the …

…students use history to judge such actions as those perpetrated last night in their true context rather than allow it to simply perpetuate hatred and social control. They will see in it what all other members of the civilised world will recognise: A fascist government inciting its people to target a defenceless minority. I shall ensure that my students will see in that shades of another such government from the last century. Most Respectfully, Keir