SINO-JAPANESE relations deteriorated further yesterday after Beijing told Tokyo to “face up to history” and Japan described its largest trading partner as “scary”.

As they exchanged threats and insults after anti-Japanese riots in China over the weekend, the countries showed little sign of backing down in their most serious feud in more than 30 years.

Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, said that Japan must admit “the tremendous suffering and hardship” that it inflicted on China and other Asian countries during the Second World War and should reconsider its attempt to gain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

“The strong responses from the Asian people should make the Japanese Government have deep and profound reflections,” he said. “Only a country that respects history, takes responsibility for past history and wins over the trust of the people in Asia and the world at large can take greater responsibility in the international community.”

China and other Asian countries are angry about a school history textbook, approved by Tokyo, that glosses over wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army.

To reinforce the point, Chinese authorities in northern Heilongjiang province said that they had unearthed 20 Japanese mortar and gas bombs, part of an arsenal of several hundred thousand chemical munitions left behind by the retreating Japanese in 1945.

Japan says that it is the victim of Chinese policy and wants an apology and compensation for damage caused in the riots.

Shoichi Nakagawa, the Japanese Trade Minister, said he was concerned that business between their countries, which was worth £100 billion last year, could suffer.

“Yes, I’m worried . . . they’re a country that’s trying to become a market economy and we need them to take a proper response,” he said. “It’s a scary country.”

Diplomatic efforts are under way to try to repair relations. Talks between senior Chinese and Japanese officials could be held as soon as today and Nobutaka Machimura, the Japanese Foreign Minister, is due in Beijing for talks at the weekend with Li Zhaoxing, his counterpart.

Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese Prime Minister, wants to meet President Hu Jintao of China on the sidelines of an Asia-Africa summit next week in Indonesia.

Nevertheless, there is evidence that the violence may continue, this time against Chinese targets in Japan. On Monday the Chinese consulate in Osaka received a a bullet casing and a threatening letter. The note said: “If you continue anti-Japanese protests, Chinese people will be hurt.”

On Sunday windows were damaged by a pellet gun fired at a branch of the Bank of China in the Japanese city of Yokohama. A statement by the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo demanded that Chinese interests be protected and described the incident in Yokohama as “a kind of terrorist act”.

Some right-wing politicians in Japan may try to take advantage of the poisoned atmosphere with China.

Shintaro Ishihara, Tokyo’s nationalist governor, is subsidising the voyage of a fishing boat into waters thousands of miles southwest of the Japanese capital whose sovereignty is disputed between the two countries. Islands there have potentially large gas reserves.

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