The following is from an article by Hideo Tamura in today's Sankei Shimbun titled "The China Syndrome" amidst the spreading corona disaster.
Hideo Tamura is one of the few genuine economic critics in Japan.
This paper is also a must-read not only for the Japanese people but also for people worldwide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has refused to allow Taiwan to be an observer at its annual meeting out of consideration for China.
It reminded me of the "Stockholm Syndrome."
It refers to the fact that hostages held by terrorists, for example, become grateful to the criminals who provide them with food and permission to use the bathroom and gradually develop a favorable impression of them.
China's new coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, plunged the world into a major recession.
In response, Xi Jinping's government-supplied developing countries with Chinese coronavirus vaccines and undertook infrastructure investment.
Chinese vaccines are not well received by the Chinese people, who are afraid of adverse reactions, and the government has gone so far as to call for vaccinations with gifts of cooking oil.
Developing countries, suffering from recession and lack of foreign currency, are turning to China to construct bridges and highways.
Many developing countries are "grateful" to China, and the WHO has become China's bidding.
Taiwan's participation as an observer, highly regarded for its ability to contain the new coronas, is a self-evident international justice, but it is kicked out.
In the world of corona disasters, the "China Syndrome" is occurring rather than the Stockholm Syndrome.
The strategy of Xi Jinping, General Secretary and President of the Communist Party of China (CPC), toward the major countries of the world, has been to spread dependence on China across the globe.
According to the party theory magazine "Qiushi" published in November last year, on April 10, last year, Mr. Xi said in a speech at a conference within the Communist Party, "Increasing dependence on the world's supply chain to China, We must form a strong counterattack and deterrent to foreign countries trying to stop supply (to China). "
We will supply medical products such as masks, high-tech parts, and raw materials such as batteries for electric vehicles (EV) if we listen to and appreciate China. Still, if we do not, we will limit exports.
The timing of this significant command was just around the time when it stopped the spread of the new corona in China, and the pandemic began to cover the world, and his way of long-sightedness made us filled with horror.
Many countries have just turned out just as Mr. Xi wished.
As for the leader of the free world, the United States, its dependence on China has increased again.
Since the start of the Biden administration, the U.S. trade deficit with China has begun to rise sharply, and in the January-March period, it increased 46% from the same period last year.
It is due to the increase in imports of digital products and other goods from China.
The significant financial capital on Wall Street in New York, which has regained its influence over the White House under the Byden administration, they have a foothold in the international financial market of Hong Kong, where the Xi administration is exercising complete political control and is expanding its securities business with China by expanding into Shanghai. It is expanding its Chinese securities business.
No matter how much the Biden administration advocates "international siege" against China, it is no wonder that it lacks power and effectiveness.
Japan, on the other hand, may already be suffering from the China Syndrome.
Concerning the destruction of Hong Kong's autonomy and the sweeping away of pro-democracy forces by the Xi administration, and the severe suppression of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Diet has refrained from taking concrete action and has not even passed a resolution condemning it.
The pro-China faction dominates the ruling party, and most opposition parties are reluctant to criticize China.
The political softness toward China has its economic background.
The graph shows the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of Japan and China and Japan's foreign debt.
Japan's GDP is also shown in dollars for comparison with China.
The atrophy of Japan's GDP did not suddenly occur in FY2020, the year of the Corona disaster.
It has been flat or repeatedly atrophied since the late 1990s in both yen and dollar terms.
In this column and elsewhere, I have repeatedly pointed out that the main culprit is chronic deflation, which depresses domestic demand.
In contrast, China's GDP, measured in dollars, has expanded rapidly, and by 2008 it will be three times the size of Japan's. The gap has widened further.
Japanese companies with sluggish domestic demand are becoming increasingly dependent on China.
On the same track as China's GDP is Japan's foreign debt, which can be described as surplus funds not used domestically.
The main items are outward direct investment and securities investment and one of China's significant direct investment destinations.
Most of the investment in securities is in New York and other major international financial markets, pushing down interest rates on the dollar.
China issues foreign bonds there and uses them as a war chest for domestic investment and expansion of its interests in the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a vast economic zone, to capture the world.
The China Syndrome is not unrelated to Japan's economic vacuum.
