The following is from a serial conversation between Gyo Tsutsumi and Koshi Kubo in the current issue of the monthly magazine Hanada.
I've already mentioned that I finally found a part-time student who can help me with the "Turntable of Civilization" project.
Coincidentally, Mr. Tsutsumi is a senior at my alma mater, and Mr. Kubo is the superior of the part-timer.
The emphasis in the text is mine, except for the headline.
The problem is the Komei Party, China's proxy.
The "activity" of the pro-China trio
Kubo
I didn't walk during the year-end and New Year holidays, so my legs and feet became completely weak. I could barely make it here (laughs).
Tsutsumi
When I see a video of Biden walking, he raises his knees more than necessary.
My wife told me that he does that to compensate for the weakness of his legs and feet.
We call it the "Biden walk" at home.
It's like Michael Jackson's moonwalk, but with Biden.
Fish rot from the head, but humans rot from the feet. I don't walk either, so I'm starting to rust (laughs).
Editor
The Beijing Winter Olympics are approaching, but the Japanese government has decided not to send any government officials, including cabinet members and government officials, after all.
However, they will be sending Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympics and Paralympics; Yasuhiro Yamashita, the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee; and Kazuyuki Mori, the president of the Japanese Paralympic Committee.
Kubo.
The decision is late, and even Seiko Hashimoto is a politician, so it's not a complete political boycott.
It's a gingerly, fourth-class, cowardly decision.
Tsutsumi
In the end, Kishida decided not to send any government officials, but the hesitation and vacillation that led up to that decision were unseemly.
Britain's Johnson, Australia's Morrison, and Canada's Trudeau quickly announced a diplomatic boycott.
In addition, Lithuania and New Zealand joined the circle of criticism of China's human rights abuses.
Yet Kishida continues to dither, saying, "I would like to decide at an appropriate time from the standpoint of the national interest after comprehensively considering various circumstances."
It is a matter of political reflexes.
Shinzo Abe would have immediately announced a boycott.
In fact, Abe criticized Kishida's indecisiveness on B.S. Nippon Television, saying, "What is the benefit (national interest) in buying time?
Perhaps out of spite, three LDP lawmakers visited the Prime Minister's Office on December 14 and handed Kishida a joint statement calling for a diplomatic boycott.
They were Keiji Furuya (President of the Japan Uyghur Parliamentary Union), Hirofumi Shimomura (President of the Tibet Parliamentary Union), and Sanae Takaichi (President of the Southern Mongolia Parliamentary Union).
In the end, Kishida visited Abe and decided not to dispatch government officials at Abe's persuasion.
When asked by a reporter if this was a diplomatic boycott, Kishida replied, "I would not use that expression."
The fugitive language that panders to the U.S. and China only invites contempt from both sides and has no merit whatsoever.
The adoption of the Diet resolution condemning the genocide and other human rights violations in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Xi Jinping regime was again blocked by the new secretary-general, Toshimitsu Motegi.
The resolution condemning China was rejected last June by former Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai and Motoo Hayashi (Deputy Secretary-General). Still, Toshimitsu Motegi rejected it this time, saying, "The content is good, but it's a matter of timing.
Timing? Now is the best time to join voices with Europe and the United States, who condemn the move.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, who resigned from his post as chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Council to become a foreign minister, is a well-known pro-China figure.
He recently received an invitation from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit China and announced it with a smile on his face.
How would Secretary of State Blinken, his counterpart in Japan's ally, the United States, view this?
He'll be offended that the order is reversed, and Hayashi is not very considerate.
This series of responses demonstrates the Kishida administration's stance on China.
The most significant part of Abe's legacy is his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
From there, it evolved into the QUAD, AUKUS, and other measures to encircle China.
The Kishida administration is letting Abe's legacy fall by the wayside.
As someone once said, Yoshimasa Hayashi is the "ni hao" (hello), Toshimitsu Motegi is the "shay shay" (thank you), and Fumio Kishida is the "wan shay" (hurray).
Ironically, the pro-China trio is standing together.
Originally, Kishida's group, Kochi-Kai, was full of pro-China people, the most prominent of whom was Kiichi Miyazawa.
When China was sanctioned for the Tiananmen Square incident and isolated from the rest of the world, Japan took the lead in lifting the sanctions, and the Miyazawa cabinet even visited the Emperor to help China rejoin the international community.
What did China do in return?
It is thorough anti-Japanese education and claiming ownership of the Senkaku Islands.
Kiichi Miyazawa was the ultimate in stupidity.
I can't help but think that Kishida and Yoshimasa Hayashi have also inherited the DNA of the Kochi-Kai.
Behind the Emperor's Visit to China
Kubo
The plan for Emperor Akihito's visit to China in October 1992 started when Kaifu was in charge, so it wasn't just a matter of Miyazawa alone.
It was said that Michio Watanabe, the Foreign Minister, was the one who initiated the idea.
The aggressive stance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at that time and Miyazawa, who made it happen, they're simply running on the rails that had been laid.
So who was the person who drove them?
The prevailing theory seems to be that Noboru Takeshita and Kanemaru Shin were rumored to have been frequented by Deng Xiaoping's sons, daughters, and aides since the end of the previous year.
During his visit to China as Prime Minister, Takeshita offered a third round of yen loans worth 810 billion yen. Still, when that loan was frozen due to the Tiananmen Square incident, he lobbied the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lift the loan and made it happen.
At that time, it was said that what he used as a means of the transaction was his cooperation with the second Kaifu cabinet reshuffle.
This method was also used many times during the Miyazawa administration, though.
In short, the Emperor's visit to China was a "trump card" for the Liberal Democratic Party and the business community, as Japan, having been left behind in the Nixon-Kissinger blitz to get closer to the U.S. and China, had learned from that experience and wanted to keep up with the bus of competing interests with the U.S. and Europe when it entered the vast Chinese market through Deng Xiaoping's "reform and opening up.
Europe and the United States are adept at distinguishing between what they mean and what they don't. While they ostensibly condemn the Tiananmen Square protests, they are not shy about entering China economically.
On the other hand, Japan has been unable to distinguish between the two, even up to the current boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and has been unilaterally subjected to criticism from international opinion.
Tsutsumi
In the 1970s, the Asahi Shimbun issued a big call for friendship between Japan and China. The whole country was excited about restoring diplomatic relations between Japan and China.
Kakuei Tanaka took advantage of this and came to power over the later Seiwa-kai, including Nobusuke Kishi and Takeo Fukuda, who believed that Taiwan must be taken care of.
I was a reporter at Bunshun when the Asahi issued a big call for friendship between Japan and China, and the members of the Japan-China Friendship Council took advantage of it. I wrote an article harshly criticizing them, and I was sued by Seiichi Tagawa, Yoshimi Furui, and other council members from Asahi and ended up in court.
The trial ended in a stalemate, but most Japanese politicians who flirted with China, starting with Kakuei, have lost their positions.
Kishida and another trio should also be careful.
This article continues.
Tsutsumi Gyo
He graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law, in 1961.
In the same year, he joined Bungeishunju. Served as editor-in-chief of Bungeishunju, first editorial director, and then general manager of the publishing division. He was retired from the company after serving as managing director. He is the author of several books, including "The Three Greats of the Showa Era: The Constitution's Nine Articles Was a Trick to Save the Country. He is Known for the serial "An Editor's Odyssey" in this magazine.
Kubo Koshi
He was born in 1940 and joined the Sankei Shimbun after graduating from Chuo University. He was served in the Political Science Department and as an editorial and particular editorial board member. He left the paper in 2004.
Author of "Kakuei Tanaka and His Students" (Bungeishunju) and "the world disturbing" (Fusosha).
