More than ten million people have signed an online petition to oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations (UN) Security Council, according to statistics from Chinese major websites Tuesday.

By 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, the total number of people who signed on the three major Chinese Internet portals, sina.com, 163.com and sohu.com, had surpassed 11.5 million.

The signature drive was launched on March 23 after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appeared to back Japan for a permanent council seat on March 21 as part of the most wide-ranging reforms to the world body since its creation in 1945.

According to the signature diagram of sina.com, more than 4.8 million Chinese signed its petition. About 145,000 people from 153 countries and regions worldwide also signed on sina.com.

It is the first ever large-scale signing activity in which so many people are united in their opinions since the Internet has been developing in China in nearly 10 years, according to local media.

Some websites even added servers to prevent the Internet jam which may be caused by the online signing campaign.

Chen Tong, editor-in-chief of the popular portal sina.com, said the sina.com petition would be presented to the United Nations, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and relevant Chinese government departments.

He also elaborated the purpose of the campaign: first, it reflected the public opinion that a great number of people oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council; second, the Chinese people hope the Japanese government to review its policies to China in recent years as well as its attitude towards history.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said last Thursday he didn't think the online petition against Japan's UN bid is an anti-Japanese passion. He said he believed instead it is a request for Japan to take a correct and responsible attitude towards historical issues.

On the sina.com bulletin, a netizen called "Maisui" left the following words: "A country that does not respect history has no future."

Editor: Olivia