＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・天安門事件での制裁解除の轍を踏むな。中国の侵略的な覇権主義は阻止すべき！
<Added June 1, 2024> Stop the foolish policy of concluding an FTA with China and making import tariffs on Chinese products essentially zero.
Japan has made two mistakes in the past, aiding the expansion of the Chinese Communist Party government.
Firstly, Japan’s fight against the Chinese Nationalist government in the Sino-Japanese War exhausted the Nationalist government, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to expand its power. Secondly, after the Tiananmen Square incident (June 4, 1989), while Western countries imposed economic sanctions on China, Japan was the first to lift them. This became the driving force behind the creation of the hegemonic state of China today.
However, Prime Minister Kishida, undeterred by these two failures (or perhaps lacking historical awareness?), agreed to accelerate negotiations for a Japan-China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at the recent Japan-China-South Korea Summit (May 27th).
The Biden administration in the United States, facing international backlash for exporting overproduced, low-cost products such as electric vehicles (EVs), decided to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese-made EVs and a 50% tariff on solar panels.
However, Prime Minister Kishida, instead of imposing high tariffs on Chinese-made EVs and solar panels like the US, proposed a policy of concluding an FTA with China and, in principle, eliminating import tariffs on Chinese products.
This plays right into China’s hands, potentially leading to a massive influx of EVs and solar panels that are difficult to sell to Europe and the US (unsold stock).
EVs and solar panels face numerous problems.
* The advantages and disadvantages of electric vehicles. The policy of banning the sale of new pure gasoline cars is hasty and foolish! There’s a risk of large-scale power outages!
* The New Energy Basic Plan will increase the burden on citizens due to high power generation costs and ruin the Japanese economy.
* Is solar power truly clean energy? There are environmental damage and waste disposal problems!
Prime Minister Kishida, who is pro-China and has been selling party tickets to Chinese people, and Tokyo Governor Koike, who is mandating the installation of solar power panels on all new homes, seem to be implementing policies that align with China’s wishes. This not only harms Japan’s national interests but also means condoning the arbitrary and arrogant behavior of hegemonic power China.
While the West is making efforts to curb China’s arbitrary and arrogant behavior, Prime Minister Kishida’s current policy will undermine those efforts.
Looking back at the history of relations between Japan and China since the Sino-Japanese War, there are two instances where Japan made the mistake of aiding the expansion of the Chinese Communist Party government.
One was that Japan’s fight against the Chinese Nationalist government in the Sino-Japanese War exhausted the Nationalist government, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to expand its power. Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government was driven from the mainland to Taiwan by Mao Zedong. As a result, on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong’s Chinese Communist Party government (People’s Republic of China) was established.
The other was that, following the Tiananmen Square incident on June 4, 1989, while Western countries imposed economic sanctions on China, Japan was the first to lift those sanctions. This became a driving force in the creation of the hegemonic state of China we see today.
Now, China is once again perpetrating human rights abuses against Uyghurs and Tibetans, which are being called “genocide,” as well as undermining the “one country, two systems” principle in Hong Kong and threatening military action against Taiwan. Furthermore, in addition to “changing the status quo by force” in the East China Sea and South China Sea, Japan has enacted the “National Security Law,” which also targets foreigners, and revised the “Coast Guard Law” (allowing the use of weapons by the Coast Guard), which clearly violates international law.
1. Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a conflict between Japan and China that lasted from 1937 to 1945. It began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937.
In the 1930s, Japan, using its control over the Korean Peninsula (acquired through the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars) and the leased Kwantung Leased Territory (Dalian) as a foothold, planned to expand into mainland China to counter the Western imperialist powers that colonized Asia. It had the justification of liberating Asian countries from Western colonial rule.
At that time in China, the Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), who had achieved the Northern Expedition and completely controlled mainland China, and the Communist Party of China, led by Mao Zedong (1893-1976), were engaged in repeated warfare. This is known as the Chinese Civil War.
In 1936, the Xi’an Incident occurred, and the “United Front Against Japan,” a form of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, was formed to fight against the Japanese army. However, after the end of World War II on August 15, 1945, the Chinese Civil War broke out again.
Chiang Kai-shek was defeated by Mao Zedong and fled to Taiwan, and on October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established by the Chinese Communist Party on the Chinese mainland.
Ultimately, Japan assisted in the establishment of the Chinese Communist government. In fact, during the post-war “Sino-Japanese friendship” period, Japanese dignitaries visiting China repeatedly apologized to Mao Zedong, saying, “We are sorry that the Japanese army invaded China” (*). Mao Zedong reportedly replied, “There is nothing to apologize for. Japanese militarism brought great benefits to China. Without the Imperial Army (Japanese Army), we could not have seized power.”
(*) Such apologies have been repeated countless times, but this is a harmful effect of the “WGIP,” a brainwashing program for the Japanese people implemented by GHQ. It remains a fixed idea for many citizens, including politicians and the media, but I believe we need to question it once again.
2. The Tiananmen Square Incident
The Tiananmen Square incident refers to the events of April 1989, when a student-led memorial service for former General Secretary Hu Yaobang in Tiananmen Square escalated into demonstrations demanding democratization and rejecting the corrupt Chinese Communist Party dictatorship. The Chinese Communist Party declared martial law, mobilized its military, and forcibly suppressed the demonstrations with indiscriminate firing.
Immediately after the Tiananmen Square incident, the world imposed economic sanctions on China. However, Japan, under the guise of “Japan-China friendship”—a deceptive and perhaps even manipulative tactic—appealed to avoid China’s isolation. Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu made the first visit to China by a Western leader since the incident in August 1991, and the Emperor visited China in October 1992, extending a helping hand.
Japan took the lead in lifting economic sanctions, drawing criticism from around the world. However, afterward, Western countries lifted economic sanctions and resumed trade, which became the driving force behind China’s development into the economic powerhouse it is today.
In fact, Qian Qichen, who was the Chinese Foreign Minister at the time, stated in his memoirs that “the Emperor’s visit to China also served as a breakthrough in the Western sanctions against China imposed after the Tiananmen Square incident.”
Now, as President Xi Jinping has explicitly stated, “we are making the whole world dependent on China.”
3. “Genocide” against Uyghurs and Tibetans, and pressure on Hong Kong and Taiwan
Japan has not issued strong condemnations against China regarding the ongoing repression of Uyghurs and Tibetans, or the pressure on Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Furthermore, Japan has not recognized the repression of Uyghurs and Tibetans, which the United States and others have designated as “genocide” (*), as “genocide.”
(*) “Genocide” is defined as “the planned destruction of a nation or ethnic/racial group.”
Japan is exposed to a military threat from China in the East China Sea. Despite China’s repeated incursions into its territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, Japan has only offered indirect “expressions of concern” and has not taken a firm stance to strongly condemn China.
Japan, within the “Security Partnership Framework (Quad)” with the United States, Australia, and India, should resolutely block China’s aggressive hegemony, which could be called imperialism. Japan must never repeat the mistakes of lifting sanctions after the Tiananmen Square incident.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is now a lame duck, having been co-opted and trapped by Chinese President Xi Jinping, behaving like a vassal state and even being looked down upon by North Korea. Therefore, there’s absolutely no hope for him. Even if the presidency changes, I believe the abnormal situation of “anti-Japan” sentiment as the trump card for boosting approval ratings will continue.
Now is the time for Japan to shift to a diplomatic policy that clearly says “no” to China. To achieve this, Japan should promote the severing of supply chains with China and the withdrawal of Japanese companies operating there, and urgently break away from its excessive economic dependence on China.
Although the situation is different today, I believe Fukuzawa Yukichi’s “Datsu-A Ron” (Leaving Asia) theory from the Meiji era is also worth considering.