By Philip Yeung
Japan, under Takaichi, is Asia's hidden ticking time bomb. Its first female prime minister fancies herself the Margaret Thatcher of the East. Remember Thatcher? She had carved her name in history by defeating Argentina in the Falklands. Copycat Takaichi, too, wants her place in history.
Takaichi has been all over the map, stirring the pot ever since taking office, cooking up tensions over Taiwan. She has cajoled other G-7 countries into ganging up on China by issuing a joint statement that challenges China's sovereignty over Taiwan.
It is rich that Japan is behind this move, as it has never apologized nor compensated China for its war-time atrocities. The blood debt over 35 million slaughtered Chinese remains unsettled.
Takaichi clearly holds China in contempt. In her recent visit to Australia, she publicly and abjectly knelt before the tomb of fallen Australian soldiers. She will kowtow to white people, but never to fellow yellow Asians, knowing that Japan was brought to its knees by two atomic bombs unleashed by the US, not by any Asian power. The sexual charms of General McArthur's Japanese aide had earned Japan undeserved leniency after the war. It got off scot-free for its wartime atrocities.
Post-war, America has been busy containing a rising China. This China obsession has turned Japanese unrepentant neo-imperialists into close US allies, a nuclear-armed North Korea hovering in the background has added a sense of urgency. All its sins and atrocities have been conveniently forgotten, if not forgiven. No Western power has ever demanded that Japan be treated in the same way they treated Germany.
This leniency and alliance of convenience have given Japan's neo-imperialists a chance to resurrect themselves. Japan now presents itself as a defender of peace and freedom in Asia. But beneath the surface, Japan is using Taiwan as an ill-disguised excuse to re-arm itself and go nuclear. Its gunboats have behaved provocatively towards China, even simulating attacks on its largest aircraft carrier and deploying long-range missiles capable of reaching China's coastal areas.
Takaichi is gleefully lighting the fuse in the region. She is surreptitiously getting Japan's foot into Taiwan's door, rekindling an appetite in recolonizing Taiwan by playing footsie under the table with Taiwan separatists.
G-7 leaders have painted the Taiwan issue as the fight for Taiwan's democracy and freedom. Nonsense. The fight is never about democratic values. It is about sovereignty and strategic security. Under one-country-two-systems, Taiwan will have more freedoms than it can handle. But this magic formula was killed by US-instigated street riots in Hong Kong, whose unrest has a deadly spillover on Taiwan.
The G-7 has degenerated into a US mouthpiece. Where was the G-7 when America snatched the leader of Venezuela from his sleep? Where was the G-7 when America threatened to annex Greenland by force? Where was the G-7 when American courts recently sentenced ICE protestors to up to 70 years in prison? The G-7 is now geopolitically irrelevant, with the US dictating, yet at loggerheads with its allies.
Taiwan is a hot issue only because of US encirclement. Can you imagine America ceding control of its Florida coast to foreign powers? Besides, America is bi-coastal, while China is not. Hence the importance of control over its sea routes in the South China Sea. This is not about territorial disputes. This is about national survival. Taiwan separatism, aided and abetted by US and Japan, is a dagger pointed at China's heart.
That is why China is prepared to go to war over Taiwan. When Japan enters the equation, you can be sure that peace is gone out of the window. The old hatreds are back. A history-ending war looms.
G-7 leaders are lulled into sleep by Japan's hypocritical concerns for peace in Asia and sidetracked by the so-called "China threat". They fail to see that Japan has been busy poking the China bear to keep the tensions high and the "threat" alive, cunningly fishing in troubled waters.
America has imperial ambitions. So does Russia. China has none. How can a country be evil when it has lifted 800 million of its people out of poverty? China only asks to be left alone to settle its domestic dispute over Taiwan. Outside interference has changed the complexion of the issue, worsening it by adding fuel to the fire.
China has a clean sheet, war-wise, over the last half century. It needs no lectures from Japan with its unwashed hands dripping with the blood of millions of Asians.
Japan is using Taiwan to re-arm itself. But this may be its gateway to hell, for this time, China will see to it that the old score is settled once and for all.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | The Iran War---Trump's can of worms
Opinion | Trump at 80—a mental milestone that sets alarm bells ringing
Opinion | The World Cup of shame—the beautiful game turned ugly
Comment