The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
◎Politics is "something that deceives the people."
Of course, in China, where "politics is a deception of the people," few people believe the claims of the Chinese Communist Party or the Chinese government.
For example, the "Nanjing Massacre" is used by the Chinese government as a tool to criticize Japan.
When I asked a teacher I know at Nanjing University what he thought about the Nanjing Massacre, he immediately replied, "It is all lies."
Even the people of Nanjing think so.
The Chinese know very well that the "Nanjing Massacre" story is only the Chinese government's bargaining card against Japan and that it is full of lies.
In China, where there is no freedom of speech, anti-Japanese words and actions tend to be tolerated.
Therefore, it is common for people to shout anti-Japanese slogans while behind the scenes implicitly criticizing the Chinese government and the Communist Party.
There have been no anti-Japanese demonstrations in China recently because people are afraid that demonstrations will turn into anti-government protests. As a result, it has become difficult for the government to agitate against Japan.
To begin with, Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang fought against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War, while the CCP was on the run from place to place and rarely fought against the Japanese.
The CCP knew they would never be able to match the mighty Japanese army, so they exhausted the KMT forces by having them fight the Japanese to preserve their own strength.
It is well known that after the war, Mao Zedong repeatedly told Japanese politicians, cultural figures, and others who visited China that he was grateful to the Japanese military for weakening the Kuomintang forces.
However, today's CCP is engaged in propaganda as if it had fought the anti-Japanese war and won the war against Japan.
Since the appeal of communism had already collapsed, the CCP had no choice but to make up "victory in the anti-Japanese war" as a justification for continuing to rule China.
In order to appeal to the people, many anti-Japanese dramas are broadcast daily in China.
Recently, however, it has become a topic of discussion that the makers of these dramas take offense and make rather bold adaptations.
For example, they include ridiculous scenes such as "a kung-fu master defeating the treacherous Japanese army," "anti-Japanese Chinese throwing hand grenades to shoot down a fighter plane," and "splitting a Japanese soldier's body in half with bare hands.
These unrealistic anti-Japanese dramas are referred to on the Chinese Internet as "anti-Japanese dramas." Since the anti-Japanese war itself, as claimed by the Chinese Communist Party, is a fiction not based on historical fact, it is only natural that the creators of these dramas must be delusional.
However, the Xi Jinping administration has begun to regulate these dramas, calling them "anti-Japanese lightning dramas" because they diminish the integrity of the "history" taught by the Chinese Communist Party.
◎Do not trust the Chinese is the key to dealing with them.
You will encounter Chinese people everywhere who insist that a lie is "true.
In business negotiations with the Chinese and on terms and conditions, the Japanese often hear the phrase "no problem."
Meiwentei means "no problem," but when Chinese people say "no problem," they usually mean "full of problems."
The most important thing to keep in mind when negotiating between Japan and China is the promise made by the Chinese when they say "no problem.
It is common practice in China to "lure the enemy in deep and round them up."
"To do this, they concede everything they want."
And once a contract or agreement is made, it quickly reneges on with many quibbles.
Therefore, it is better to assume that a Chinese person who accepts any conditions has no intention of keeping their word from the very beginning.
If they accept any condition immediately, you must know they do not intend to keep it.
In addition, Japanese people are generally incapable of telling a lie.
In other words, they cannot bluff.
For the Chinese, the decisive factor in negotiations is how to overwhelm the other party by "bluffing."
It is only natural that the Japanese who cannot do so are overwhelmed by the Chinese.
How, then, should the Chinese, who are fraudulent, and the Japanese, who are sincere, get along well with each other?
The most distinctive feature of Chinese history is that it is a history of "deception and being deceived.
In addition to wars, the history of politics and the history of the court is also a history of always trying to subvert the other party through intrigue.
Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui was slammed by the Chinese when he said at the 100th anniversary of Tamsui Elementary School, "Chinese history is a history of deceit and deception," but this is common knowledge.
Lee Teng-hui does not need to say this, but we all know this from our elementary school days.
And the Japanese are among those who the lies of the Chinese have most misled.
It is especially true in the postwar period.
Seeing Japanese experts in China makes me very sad, and I even want to feel sorry for them.
It is because most of them write books about their research results, only to have them rejected by the Chinese side a few years later.
For example, at the time of the Cultural Revolution, most Japanese researchers appreciated this political movement.
However, when the Cultural Revolution ended, the Chinese government declared the movement a "mistake.
In many cases, the truth was very different from the truth.
No matter how much time one spends on research, the study of China is always a source of embarrassment after a few years.
It is the reason why some researchers have stopped their research.
For example, Chinese literature scholar Yoshimi Takeuchi is one of those who quit Chinese studies.
It was probably because he was humiliated by being played by Chinese lies.
It shows how difficult it is to study China.
The history of discord between Japan and China shows that things go wrong usually due to cultural friction or a clash of civilizations between China's "culture of deception" and Japan's "culture of sincerity."
The Chinese, who distrust people, cannot understand Japan.
The Chinese always view Japan skeptically, making it challenging to understand Japan.
Therefore, sincerity is taboo when Japanese people want to have a relationship with Chinese people.
Surprisingly, Japanese people do not hide their true feelings and tend to say what they think.
However, no matter how much sincerity is shown, the Chinese generally do not believe it.
Even if you tell them the truth, they will not believe you, so there is nothing you can do about it.
Therefore, when we ask what kind of strategy the Chinese are always thinking about, we come up with "the battle of supremacy" in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
According to the Art of War by "Sun Tzu," the best way to fight is to "defeat a plot," that is, to read and defeat the enemy's schemes.
The second best is to cut off alliances and friendships with the enemy and isolate them.
In short, the Chinese know how to break each other's schemes and negotiate to put the other side at a disadvantage.
Therefore, for the Chinese, human relations are nothing but a battle.
Friendship and trust are impossible for the Chinese.
The Japanese believe that sincerity is the prerequisite for better human relations, but this is an apparent mistake.
For example, from the Manchurian Incident to the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese side wrapped all peace negotiations between Japan and China.
After the Manchurian Incident or the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Japanese government held dozens or hundreds of peace negotiations with China. Still, the Chinese side did not abide by the temporary ceasefire, forcing Japan to continue the war with China just before World War II.
During the Taisho period, Japan provided China with approximately 300 million yen (about 3 trillion yen in today's value) in Yen loans to Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing National Government.
However, taking advantage of Japan's predicament caused by the Great Sanriku Earthquake of 1933 (Showa Sanriku Earthquake), the Nanjing government canceled the yen loan.
Japan also extended a loan of ¥145 million to the Duan Qirui administration of the Beijing government (the Xiyuan loan) to support infrastructure development. Still, much of the money was abused by the Duan Qirui faction military faction and was hardly reimbursed.
When the principal and interest from these loans are added together, it is said that Japan's prewar loans to China amounted to as much as 10 trillion yen.
Thus, neither the country nor its people keep their promises in China.
Even in the international community today, China is criticized worldwide as a country that does not keep its promises. For example, in December 1984, China signed the "Sino-British Joint Declaration" with the United Kingdom, promising to maintain the "one country, two systems" policy for 50 years until 2047 after the return of Hong Kong in 1997. The Chinese government enforced the National Security Maintenance Act in Hong Kong at the end of June 2020, which cracked down on democracy movements and criticism of the administration, effectively depriving Hong Kong residents of their autonomy.
In May 2021, Hong Kong's electoral system was revised so that only those recognized as "patriots" by the Chinese government could run for office.
China has thus completely abandoned its promise to uphold the "one country, two systems" principle for 50 years.
In the future, we cannot trust any promises that China makes.
The lesson of history is that those who believe in China are fools.
Japanese are keenly aware that this is also true of South Korea, which is "Little China."
