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Arrests over China hotel 'orgy'Row fuels Chinese anti-Japan sentiment
(CNN) -- Chinese police say they have detained several suspects over an alleged mass orgy involving Japanese tourists and local prostitutes at a hotel in the south of the country. Prostitution, although commonplace, is illegal in mainland China and police say they are planning a full investigation of the matter, the China Daily reported. The newspaper quoted a police official as saying the hotel, in the southern city of Zhuhai, had been ordered to suspend business but the officer refused to say whether any of the tourists were among those detained. The case, which has become front-page news in China, has stirred up decades-old resentment against Japan over its wartime past, occurring around the anniversary of the Japanese invasion of northeastern China 72 years ago. The alleged orgy involved a tour group of some 400 Japanese, aged between 16 and 37, and up to 500 local prostitutes and lasted for three days. According to reports, it ended on September 18, the anniversary of the invasion of northeastern China by the Japanese imperial army in 1931 -- a fact given much play, along with other salacious details, by China's tabloid press. According to state media, thousands of outraged Chinese have posted messages on Chinese Internet chatrooms accusing the Japanese of deliberately seeking to exploit the anniversary. Some postings said the tourists were "humiliating the Chinese people at the time when the country was marking ... a day of national humiliation," the state-run People's Daily newspaper reported. The report also quoted the hotel's manager, named only as "Chen", as saying the tourists had wanted to pin up a Japanese flag in the lobby of the hotel but that request was refused. 'Odious'
The case has added to already strained relations between China and Japan over the two countries' wartime past. Last month China issued a formal diplomatic protest after one man died and several others were injured by abandoned Japanese chemical weapons unearthed in the northeast of the country. Commenting on the alleged orgy, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry described the case as "extremely odious." According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, Kong Quan said China stood firmly by the principle that "foreigners in China must abide by Chinese laws." He added that China would be pressing the Japanese government to "enhance (the) education of its people to that end", the agency reported.
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