China wraps anti-Japan propaganda campaign as tensions between neighbors remain sharp

BEIJING – China has wrapped up its latest anti-Japanese propaganda campaign amid continuing sharp disputes over territorial claims and history.

State media on Saturday published the last of 45 confessions of convicted Japanese World War II criminals. The campaign was launched this summer in response to statements by Japanese politicians and public figures minimizing Japan's brutal eight-year invasion and occupation of much of China in the 1930s and 1940s.

Along with the controversial statements, China was outraged by Japan's nationalization of East China Sea islands claimed by Beijing two years ago, as well as a visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a Tokyo shrine for the war dead in December.

China has frozen all high-level diplomatic contacts and regularly sends patrol boats to challenge Japanese craft near the uninhabited islands.