I have been subscribing to this book at the recommendation of a reading friend.
It is the latest book by Kō Bun'yū, a Taiwanese scholar and one of China's leading experts.
Introduction.
Since the restoration of diplomatic relations between Japan and China in 1972, Japan has adopted a foreign policy that places the highest priority on China's relations under "Japan-China Friendship."
ODA (official development assistance) to China, which began in 1979, has amounted to more than ¥3.6 trillion over about 40 years.
There is no doubt that this aid from Japan has helped China become an economic powerhouse.
Besides, Japan has accepted China's insistence on a "correct perception of history" in historical issues.
Because Japan was a nefarious country that invaded China and South Korea before the war, it spread fabricated histories such as the Nanking Massacre, Unit 731, and the cart-off of military comfort women, and this instilled in the Japanese people a self-tormenting historical view.
Even today, it is not easy for the prime minister to visit Yasukuni Shrine for fear of a backlash from China and South Korea.
These so-called pro-China people have been acting in line with China's wishes or favor of China.
They have supported ODA to China and have uncritically agreed with China's "correct perception of history."
Not only that, the left-wing media and others have gone so far as to report, "What do China and South Korea think about Japan doing this?" eliciting a harsh response from China and South Korea.
Until recently, at the minister's inauguration ceremony, reporters repeatedly asked him about his "understanding of history," which is mostly unrelated to his duties, such as whether he would visit the Yasukuni Shrine and whether he thought the last war was an invasion.
Reporters have been targeting the minister's gaffe, Reporting to China and South Korea themself, make a big noise; they have been trying to fire from a job that doesn't work for China.
The phrases "we can't get China and South Korea to understand" and "China and South Korea will be angry" have been used as the killer words for criticism of the Japanese government.
It is still being done today.
For example, on August 4, 2020, a reporter from the Tokyo Shimbun told Defense Minister Taro Kono about "possession of ballistic missile prevention capability within the opponent's territory" (possession of enemy base attack capability) proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party. "Isn't it a situation where it can obtain an understanding of China and South Korea?"
Kono gave a perfectly reasonable answer to the question, "Why do you need a clue when China is building up its missile arsenal?" and "Why do you need South Korea's clue to defend our territory?
China treated people who said or did things that were convenient for China as "friendly people."
In particular, historians cannot research China unless they endorse China's "correct perception of history."
On the contrary, if China recognized them as "friendly humanitarians," it welcomed them with open arms.
In post-war Japan, under the order by the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (GHQ) to expel those who were identified as militarists from universities and the media, academics, and business people who embraced the historical perspective of the Tokyo Trials began to occupy key positions in society.
Professor Emeritus Watanabe Shoichi of Sophia University has called these people "war profiteers," and they have been adhering to the Tokyo Tribunal's view of the history of pre-war Japan as "evil.
At the same time, they have endorsed the "correct understanding of history" insisted upon by China and have actively promoted it.
But the "friendly people" that China touts are now at a low ebb.
No matter how much China uses "Japan-China friendship" as its theme, according to various surveys, the number of Japanese who "don't trust" or "don't like" China has risen to an all-time high of nearly 80%.
Over the past few years, the number of Japanese wary of China has increased due to China's military buildup and its aggression against the Senkaku Islands.
It is also clear that the number of Japanese who feel disgusted by China's threatening stance, wielding a "correct perception of history" as usual, has increased.
Nevertheless, in political and business circles, the power of the pro-China faction was still great.
Not a few wanted to make a fortune by targeting the vast Chinese market and Chinese interests.
But the global pandemic of a new type of coronavirus is likely to be the last straw for these pro-China groups.
As countries become more isolated and global supply chains come to a halt, there is a growing awareness of the dangers of relying on China, which, from an economic standpoint, has become the "factory of the world.
Besides, China's manipulative activities have been exposed not only in Japan but also around the world.
The new coronavirus's global spread drew international criticism for the blatantly pro-China stance taken by WHO (World Health Organization) Director-General Tedros.
The United States formally announced its withdrawal from the WHO in July 2020, criticizing China's puppet.
Currently, four of the 15 UN agencies are headed by Chinese nationals.
They are the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (TICAO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Of the UN's 193 member states (as of March 2020), four of the 15 UN agencies are Chinese, which is quite a large number.
Moreover, in these UN bodies, China is doing whatever it pleases to its advantage.
TICAO, for example, has refused to allow Taiwan to participate.
Taiwan has its airlines, including the flag carrier China Airlines and the largest privately owned carrier, Evergreen Airlines. Still, the country is not allowed to attend ICAO's General Assembly, which sets international standards for aviation safety and control, among other things.
Of course, the reason is that China, which claims to be "one China," is blocking its participation.
It is especially true when China holds the top spot in TICAO.
In February 2020, TICAO blocked a series of accounts on its official white-faced Twitter page that criticized Taiwan's exclusion and tweeted in support of Taiwan's membership in TICAO.
Support for Taiwan's participation in TICAO was also expressed in April 2019 in a joint communique following the G7 foreign ministers' meeting between the United States, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, and countries establishing diplomatic relations with Hewan, including Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras, have also asked TICAO to invite Taiwan to the General Assembly.
However, TICAO has ignored these calls and has shown that it is shutting down all opinions on Twitter.
Taiwan's exclusion from the WHO due to Chinese interference has been widely acknowledged in the new coronavirus case, and various international organizations are doing the same.
Besides, since the Chinese took over the top job, ITU and UNIDO have been blatantly developing communications infrastructure and economic assistance projects for developing countries in conjunction with China to take advantage of China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative.
In this way, China uses the UN agency to its advantage by taking the head of the agency or putting a country at the head that does China's bidding through economic diplomacy.
In March 2020, China is also running for the Secretary General's election of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
However, it seems that China, which infringes intellectual property rights around the world with fake and plagiarism, has firmly refused to become the top institution dealing with intellectual property rights issues.
The Singapore candidate recommended by Japan, the United States, and Europe won.
In recent years, China's infiltration of these international organizations and countries has become a significant problem.
In Australia, for example, as discussed in this book, the Chinese Communist Party's operative efforts to send spies to parliament in the 2019 general election have been revealed.
For more information on Chinese infiltration operations in the country, see Clive Hamilton's book, The Invisible Invasion: China's Plan to Dominate Australia (translated by Tetsuhide Yamaoka, supervised by Tetsuhide Yamaoka and translated by Shinji Okuyama, Asuka Shinsha. The Chinese Invasion of Australia" by Clive Hamilton, translated by Tetsu Tetsuhide Yamaoka, translated by Shinji Okuyama, was a bestseller in Japan.
In recent years, this kind of Chinese infiltration of other countries has become a problem in the United States.
At the end of July 2020, an American government-affiliated think tank released a report titled "China's Influence in Japan," described in detail in this book.
In particular, those taken in by China and take advantage of the Chinese side are called "panda huggers."
It means "panda huggers," which means they are pro-China.
They have benefited China under the illusion that [as China becomes more affluent, democracy will eventually take root in China].
They have allowed the West to participate in the liberal economy, join the WTO [World Trade Organization], and make the renminbi an international currency.
China's economy thus benefited from capitalism and overgrew, along with globalism.
But instead of developing democracy, China strengthened its control over speech and its dictatorship.
On June 30, 2020, it will break the international promise of "maintaining Hong Kong's one country, two systems for 50 years" with the United Kingdom, enabling the Chinese government's substantial direct governance. It is enforcing the enforcement of the Hong Kong National Security Law.
Meanwhile, China, with its controlled economy, has begun to ravage the liberal market.
The state has been using state-owned enterprises with the state's financial backing to monopolize the Western market with low-cost products, actively engaged in foreign companies' acquisition by state-owned enterprises, and has been bidding on alien technology.
The United States, alarmed by these developments, has accelerated its drive to exclude Huawei and other Chinese companies from the international market and call on its allies and Western countries to follow suit.
It said that foreign companies outside of China could be subject to U.S. sanctions if they continue to use Chinese products and services, and 800 Japanese companies could become targets of U.S. sanctions.
This book explains China's infiltration operations in various countries, its cooperation with pro-China forces, and the reality of the U.S.-led crackdown on these pro-China groups.
I have also tried to explain in detail the historical background of Japan's pro-China forces and why Japan has misjudged China's true nature.
I hope this book will help understand what has led Japan and the rest of the world to misunderstand China, which has caused it to grow, and how China's environment will change in the future.
August 2020 Kō Bun'yū.