BEIJING -- There is a sharp contrast between Japan and China on how they have handled the incident of North Korean asylum-seekers in Japan's Shenyang consulate general. While Beijing has taken a low-key approach, Tokyo has blown the whole matter into crisis proportion, creating a nationwide sensation of outrage, anger and militant rhetoric against China -- only to end up with yet another foreign policy embarrassment.
Now both governments are prepared to dig in and stick with their own version of what happened. Beijing made clear that the police guards entered the consulate with the consent of Japanese diplomat officials for the sole purpose of taking away the unidentified intruders. But Tokyo released its own investigation result, denying that such consent had been given.
Instead of waiting for the result of the pending investigation and then taking the necessary steps to resolve the dispute, Japan has unilaterally politicized the event.