The police intrusion into the Japanese Consulate General in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on May 8 has revealed, both here and abroad, the sorry state of Japanese diplomacy.
A widely aired video clearly showed that armed Chinese police entered consulate grounds without Japanese consent. That was a violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Affairs, which prohibits entry into a foreign consulate without consent.
The problem with Japan is the lack of determination by consulate officials in protecting the national interest in a time of crisis. On the same day, it has been revealed, the ambassador to China, Koreshige Anami, told embassy personnel to "prevent suspicious people from entering embassy grounds without permission."