BEIJING: Should Doraemon, a modern cultural icon of Japan, be a scapegoat for the worsening Sino-Japanese ties? For some people, it seems, the answer is yes.
Recently, three newspapers based in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, sparked a fierce debate by launching an attack on the ongoing frenzy about the chubby, blue, earless robotic cat in the southwestern metropolis. However, it would be more thought-provoking to consider ways to rationally treat civilian exchanges, which have chilled since Japan’s so-called nationalisation of China’s Diaoyu Islands in 2012.