China Aims at Japan's Economy in Island Protests Chinese are trying to hurt Japan economically for leverage in a bitter dispute over contested islands, turning to angry protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese businesses, abetted in part by China's government. Sporadic protests in China over the past week became larger and at times violent and spread to at least two dozen cities over the weekend. Protesters torched a Panasonic factory and Toyota dealership in the eastern port of Qingdao, looted a Heiwado Co. department store in the southern city of Changsha and ransacked Japanese supermarkets in several cities. Though larger numbers of police imposed more order on demonstrations Sunday, they fired tear gas to subdue rowdy protesters in the southern city of Shenzhen. In nearby Guangzhou city, protesters broke into a hotel that was next to the Japanese Consulate and damaged a Japanese restaurant inside. Japan has demanded that China ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and businesses. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday he is concerned that island disputes in the Asia-Pacific region could spark provocations and result in violence that could involve other nations, such as the United States. While it urged protesters not to resort to violence, China's government has also encouraged the use of economic pressure in the dispute over Japan's control over the East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. China's National Tourism Administration ordered travel companies last week to cancel tours to Japan over the weeklong National Day holiday in early October and promised to compensate any businesses for costs they could not recover, said a lawyer who saw the written order and asked not to be identified because the document is not for public use. The scale and violence are the worst in recurring waves of anti-Japanese protests since 2005, when lingering grievances over Japan's occupation of parts of China in the 1930s through World War II brought Chinese into the streets. Since then, China's economy has supplanted Japan's as the world's second largest and its diplomatic clout and military firepower have soared. State broadcaster China Central Television on Sunday showed Chinese naval forces conducting firing drills in the East China Sea, though it did not give a date for the exercises. Tensions have been growing for months over the East China Sea islands, since a right-wing nationalist Japanese politician vowed to buy them from their private owners to better protect them from Chinese encroachment. When the Japanese government purchased the islands this week to keep them out of the politician's hands, China reacted angrily, sending marine patrol ships inside Japanese-claimed waters around the islands. State media, which answer to the ruling Communist Party, joined ordinary Chinese in calling for boycotts of Japanese goods. One regional newspaper ran a list of well-known Japanese brands along with calls for a boycott. China Central Television halted advertisements for Japanese products on two of its main channels over the weekend, according to China National Radio.