The following newspaper article is from the Nikkei Shimbun of Feb. 13.
The article says that China (CCP = Xi Jinping) had nothing to do with COVID-19 as if it were a natural infection caused by bats.
However, this article has a serious flaw, or rather, injustice and untruth.
It is an obvious fact that even an elementary school-age mind can point out.
If so, why did China (CCP = Xi Jinping) so abnormally resist and prevent international organizations from investigating the source of the outbreak, especially the Wuhan Institute for Virus Research, and only let them examine an incomplete form...a form that does not make sense as an investigation?
If Nihon Keizai Shimbun is a newspaper entirely under China's control, this article would be a natural one.
However, if that is the case, the company must immediately change its name from Nihon Keizai Shimbun to China Economic Daily.
If so, I can finally cancel my subscription.
The following is from the following book published on December 19, 2018, is a must-read for the Japanese people and people worldwide.
The emphasis in the text, except for the headline, is mine.
Introduction: Reading the Nikkei makes you stupid
Ignorance of "Don't miss the bus"
Tamura
In the August 21, 2018 edition of the Nikkei Shimbun, a headline read, "China, Malaysia focus on trade in a summit meeting to mend ties, cooperate on 'One Belt, One Road.
The headline gave the impression that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir was trying to curry favor with China.
Even when I was in Nikkei, the editorial executives were pro-China, but I don't think they were that bad.
Takahashi
You shouldn't read Nikkei because they write just a little story in making a mountain out of a molehill (laughs).
Tamura
That would be the end of the story (laughs).
For example, the headline of the same August 21 issue of Sankei was, "Malaysian Prime Minister to China, stresses friendship while checking China," and "'We don't want neo-colonialism.
While Sankei wrote that Prime Minister Mahathir said precisely what he needed to say in China, Nikkei wrote the following in an earlier article.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Malaysian Prime Minister Li Keqiang met separately with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir, who visited Beijing on April 20. They agreed to expand trade, including increasing imports of agricultural products. The meeting was designed to restore relations between the two countries, which had fallen apart when Mr. Mahathir proposed a review of infrastructure projects involving Chinese companies.
In other words, the story seems to be that Prime Minister Mahathir bowed down. As for the One Belt, One Road (a modern version of the Silk Road economic zone concept) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that China is promoting, the tone of the Nikkei and Asahi is "Don't miss the bus."
Takahashi
I think it was in 2017 when I appeared on a TV program affiliated with TV Asahi; the theme was "One Belt, One Road," and there were four guests.
There were four guests, and it was like a one-to-three situation.
The other three were saying, "Don't miss the bus."
I pointed out that the interest rates on the AIIB were high and would be a loan shark situation, but my prediction was correct (laughs).
People who don't understand this level of talk say, "Don't miss the bus."
I once advised Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to do the same.
If Japan and the U.S. don't participate in the AIIB, the financing cost will be higher. The AIIB itself will become more expensive without the participation of Japan and the U.S. So, China, which wants to gain "Japan's trust," will eventually ask us to join.
I predicted this, but the Prime Minister also said it was true.
I think many of the people who said "don't miss the bus" didn't even know about base interest rates.
You can't analyze something without knowing the basics.
Tamura.
For the benefit of the readers, the base interest rate is as follows.
When international financial institutions lend money, they procure it from somewhere else and lend it out.
The rate at which they procure the money is called the base interest rate, and the country behind the international organization is vital for the base rate.
In the case of the AIIB, the interest rate is determined by who is backing the international organization if it goes wrong.
In the case of AIIB, the backing is China. The base interest rate is almost the same as the procurement cost in China's international finance.
Nikkei takes a pro-China line.
Takahashi
Japan and the U.S back the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan is the backer.
So the base interest rate is determined by Japan's funding cost.
Finance is determined by looking at the backing of the country.
Japan or the U.S. did not join the AIIB, so China is easy to see as the backer.
China's sourcing costs in the international market are considerably higher than Japan's.
It is because China is not very trustworthy.
As a result, the AIIB's funding cost cannot exceed China's, so the trick is that Japan's base interest rate will be lower than China's.
Tamura
That's obvious.
Takahashi
Then the AIIB will be forced to lend at a relatively high funding cost.
Of course, China can lower the interest rate by injecting subsidies, but that cannot continue long.
So the prediction is that it will become a loan shark.
Tamura.
I have been writing that the AIIB is a sham since 2014.
In response to Nikkei and Asahi's argument that we should not miss the bus, I have been arguing, "Are we getting on the Communist Party's bus driven by Xi Jinping?
China is creating the AIIB even though the Asian Development Bank already exists, backed by Japan and the United States.
China argues that it needs the AIIB because it lacks infrastructure funds.
But the Asian Development Bank lends an enormous amount of money to China. Isn't that strange?
I once had a heated discussion about the Asian Development Bank with ADB President Takehiko Nakao, who succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda, the current president of the Bank of Japan.
At a meeting with Mr. Nakao and editorial board members of national newspapers and NHK, I said, "China is going to establish the AIIB under its initiative and finance the shortage of infrastructure funds. You are the Asian Development Bank president, so you should tell China that it should first pay back the money it borrowed from the Asian Development Bank.
I also told Mr. Nakao about China's foreign currency situation: "China looks like it has a lot of foreign currency reserves, but the reality is that it does not. It is an outright lie that China can do a lot of international finance under its leadership and lend money at low-interest rates. And yet, Mr. Nakao, are you saying that the Asian Development Bank will intensely cooperate with China?"
It was in June of 2014. Since then, I have not been invited to any media exchange meetings with Mr. Nakao (chuckles).
The ADB is located in a district of Manila, like a different world. Mr. Nakao and other senior officials from the Japanese Ministry of Finance are more than willing to get along with the Chinese representatives.
Mr. Nakao and other Japanese finance bureaucrats are considered to be money-grubbers for China, and they receive a great deal of hospitality when they go to Beijing.
It is why they fall into the "do-nothing" policy. The financial bureaucrats may think about getting along with the Chinese side, but they will not confront them.
When Mr. Nakao's predecessor, Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, was president of the ADB, he led the development of the Mekong River basin using Japanese money.
However, Chinese companies were the only ones to move into the area, and they did all they could to destroy the environment through overexploitation.
However, Mr. Kuroda's policy was accommodating to China, saying that development was good for China.
Nikkei is pro-China anyway. Not only Nikkei but also Asahi is based on the "ideology" that we should get along with China.
In addition, Nikkei, together with Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), has been actively saying that Japan will miss out on business opportunities if it misses the bus.
The AIIB is a bank-led by the Chinese Communist Party.
They think only in terms of the profit motive of winning projects and gaining market share.
Why can't they see that China's One Belt, One Road, and Silk Road Economic Bloc is like trying to rebuild the Chinese Empire?
AIIB will be safe to proceed with it.
I couldn't help wondering why they didn't think about the political implications of Japan's cooperation in such things.
This article continues.