John wrote:
> Someone pointed me towards the Japan Times article describing your
> speech to the Liberal Democratic Party.
>
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/ ... te-probes/
> What you're describing isn't really what's going on.
> I'm writing a book on China, Korea and Japan. It's almost
> finished, approaching 100,000 words, and based on hundreds of
> sources, including a couple of dozen books. So I've done
> extensive research, and the conclusion I've reached (with
> certainty) is that China does not really want war with America or
> the West (except possibly with the UK for the Opium Wars), but
> they're thirsting for a revenge war with Japan, even though they
> know that it means war with America as well.
> China may be "expansionist," but that's not what's driving them.
> What's driving them is the desire for revenge.
> My book was originally going to be about 40,000 words, and it was
> going to be about China's claims to the South China Sea. After I
> got into it, I realized that China has no claims whatsoever to the
> South China Sea. It's totally a hoax. So then I changed the
> objective of the book to figuring out China's "Century of
> Humiliation." After I got into that, a major question arose: Why
> didn't the same thing happen to Japan? So the third objective of
> the book was to compare China with Japan, and what I discovered is
> that Japan has repeatedly and consistently bested China in all
> areas -- economically, diplomatically, militarily, and in
> governance. That leads directly to the conclusion that China is
> justifying its barbaric actions by seeking revenge against Japan.
> In fact, they're mimicking the barbaric policies that Japan used
> leading to WW II, such as the concentration camps and crematoria
> in East Turkistan (Xinjiang province), and violent attacks on
> Christians, Buddhists and Muslims.
> If you describe the CCP as "the most geopolitically ambitious,
> aggressive, expansionist power in world history," then you're
> missing the point. Those are secondary objectives. China is not
> like Germany or WW II or even Japan in WW II, both of which were
> working on expansionist policies.
> It's hard to describe China's policies as anything but insanity.
> China's policies don't even make sense. BRI, as you point out, is
> economic suicide for China. The Uighur genocide is one of the
> stupidest policies of any nation in history. Trying to
> exterminate Buddism and Christianity is totally insane.
> The ordinary people of China do not feel “oppressed,” “tortured”
> and “abused," as long as they have jobs. A recession would change
> that.
> Maybe it's a distinction without a difference. Online we've been
> working out out some likely military scenarios that the Chinese
> will follow, but once the missiles start flying, it probably won't
> matter what the motives are. China's motives will be raw and
> visceral.
> On the other hand, you probably didn't have to tell the Japanese
> what the actual Chinese motives are. They already know what
> barbarians they were, with Unit 731, with the Rape of Nanking, and
> with comfort women. They're well aware that the Chinese are
> coming to do the same things to them, and they know that America
> may be too busy trying to save itself than trying to save
> them.