Friday, February 24, 2017

China Is Leading A Deadly Information War Against Japan

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Michael Yon, Japan Forward: The Hate Farm: China Is Planting a Bitter Harvest

Ask an American journalist, “Do you trust the Chinese government?” If the answer is yes, there is nothing more to talk about. If the answer is no, the next question is, “Do you trust them to tell the truth about Japan?”

China is leading a deadly information war. The first target is Japan. The ultimate target is the United States. For more than two years, our research team and I have been warning that a Chinese radicalization program will lead to terrorism against Japanese. These predictions are proving true, so far with minor attacks. In November 2015, a Korean extremist detonated an explosive device inside the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine. He fled to South Korea but was arrested when he returned to Japan the following month.

In 2013, another Korean broke into Yasukuni Shrine and threw canisters of paint thinner on the structures inside, perhaps in an attempt to recreate the arson attack of 2011 when a Chinese national set fire to one of Yasukuni’s gates. The man responsible for the 2013 incident later attacked the Japanese embassy in Seoul—but when South Korean authorities were told of his earlier crimes at Yasukuni, they refused to extradite him to stand trial in Japan.

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WNU Editor: Michael Yon is talking about something that this blog has been covering for years. The first thing that I noticed when I was stationed in China in the mid-1980s was the hatred that many in Asia had towards Japan .... and all of it stemmed from the Japanese wars in the 1930s and 1940s. Drive a Japanese car in South Korea .... there was an excellent chance that within a week it would be keyed/tires slashed/or kicked at. After a few drinks bring up Japan in China at a banquet ..... and wow .... the anti-Japanese rhetoric that I heard would make your skin crawl. With this base of resentment .... China's information war against Japan is probably the easiest job that anyone has in China .... and we are now seeing the results of it. In the past few years Chinese altitudes towards Japan have been stoked to the point where the Chinese consensus now is that all problems and disputes are the fault of Japan. Coupled this with a continuous push by Chinese authorities that China has been a victim of Japan's aggression in the past .... and that there is a need for revenge and accountability .... while driving a strong nationalistic message .... there is now a toxic brew in Asia. Where all of this is going to end up .... I do not know.

2 comments:

B.Poster said...

Actually you could substitute "America" for "Japan" and substitute "China" for pretty much any country with regards to anti-American sentiment. As the most universally hated and despised country in the world, America has a distinction of it's own.

In the case of America, one could add pretty much anything real and imagined for their justification for such venomous hatred for the country. Of course some reasons are justified and some aren't. America is a country that has been vilified so much that it has become extremely difficult if not impossible to sort fact from fiction. It's interesting that Japan is experiencing a taste of this.

In Japan's defense, at least they do have the good sense to limit immigration. When one is hated it is probably not a going to be a good idea to open your doors and let anyone and everyone in with arms wide open and eyes closed. So far the Americans lack such good sense.

This does raise at least a couple of question though. With America currently heavily dependent upon "made in china" and being so deeply in debt and without viable alternatives to made in China in the short to mid term, does it make sense from a pragmatic point of view for the US to be allied with Japan given that there is such hatred towards Japan in China? Obviously the trade agreements will need to be renegotiated but the transition will take time and it will be helpful to have Chinese cooperation here. From a pragmatic point of view, is China going to be more or less likely to cooperate with us as long as we are allied in any way with Japan?

To the Chinese, South Koreans, and others I would point out that the wars of the 1930s and 1940s are long over. Japan is not the same country it was in those days and that country is MOT coming back. In the same vein, I'm pretty sure none of these countries are the same as they were in the 19630s and 1940s. Countries like people change over time and imperial Japan is not coming back. Holding onto old bitterness and hatreds serves no useful purpose. It is long past time for these people and their leaders to move onto bigger and better things.

Anonymous said...

On behalf of all[nearly] the Japanese,I would like to express my gratitude for your comment. Not only do I thank your comment ,but also I will try all my best to keep my mother country a peace_loving country.