Welcome to Issues in Japan.
The importance of China's activities to Japan has become increasingly huge.
However, there are many facts missing from the official announcements made by the communist regime of the People's Republic of China.
There are many secrets.
And not a few are lies.
It can be said that it is a matter of life and death for Japan to distinguish between truth and falsehood in this regard.
In 2021, the Heritage Foundation, a major American research organization, compiled a research report entitled "2021 China Transparency Report." (http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2021/China_Transparency_Report.pdf)
The summary of the report is, roughly speaking,
"China's state activities as a whole are extremely less transparent, more opaque, and more secretive than those of other major countries. So we have to be careful."
That was the warning.
The Heritage Foundation report began by explaining why this kind of research is urgently needed.
First, the new coronavirus outbreak in China has brought unprecedented devastation and danger to the entire world.
The loss of countless human lives and the unprecedented economic damage are obvious.
Such a tragedy must never happen again.
Second, in order to do so, it is essential to investigate how this major infectious disease originated and spread.
However, the investigation is hampered by China's secrecy and opacity.
The coronavirus outbreak also marked a turning point in US-China relations.
Third, the U.S. has continued to hold the Chinese Communist Party government responsible for the coronavirus outbreak in both the public and private sectors.
The U.S. has demanded that the Chinese government be held accountable and transparent, not only with regard to public health, but also with regard to politics, law, human rights, and foreign policy.
Fourth, the Heritage Foundation, making a concerted effort in this regard, launched the "China Transparency Research Project." (https://www.heritage.org/china-transparency-project)
The purpose of this project was to compare published data on the activities of the Chinese government with data obtained unofficially by public and private organizations on the U.S. side, and to illuminate the gap between the published data and the reality.
Looking at the issues raised above, it is clear that the main impetus for this research was the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
However, the purpose of the research was not limited to coronaviruses.
The Heritage Foundation went on to explain why it is necessary to uncover China's secrets, or China's lies, as follows
First, the Chinese Communist regime has become a danger to the United States and a threat to the world, with its increasing repression at home and its dangerous expansion abroad.
Therefore, it is in the national interest of the United States to investigate the actual situation of the regime.
However, the target of the investigation is only the Chinese Communist regime, not the people in general. "We do not consider the Chinese people to be the enemy."
Second, the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2021.
President Xi Jinping and other Communist Party leaders appear to be using the occasion to renew their determination to expand ambitiously into the free world.
For the U.S., knowing the truth behind China's opaque curtain is increasingly essential to formulating an effective policy toward China.
Third, the Chinese Communist regime has a proven history of hiding, manipulating, and disguising the truth from its own people more often than one can count.
In today's world, every government is capable of keeping some facts private, or opaque.
But the case of the Chinese Communist regime is unique and extreme.
But why on earth does the People's Republic of China use a different method and scale to communicate falsehoods and conceal facts both inside and outside the country than other countries?
The report explains as follows. This is especially important.
The first reason is that the supreme objective of the Chinese Communist Party regime is to maintain its own rule, and a system has been established in which the highest priority is given to hiding and distorting facts and data in all areas in order to maintain its dictatorial rule.
In other words, it is the Chinese Communist Party's intense desire for self-preservation that hides the truth of its own rule.
And, in order for the U.S. to compete with China, it is essential for the U.S. to know the reality of the Chinese side's concealment of the truth, that is, its falsehoods and fictions.
This reality about China also applies to Japan.
Japan, too, must always know what is true and what is false about China.
That’s all for now. Thank you for your interest.
