General Liu Yazhou on China, Japan, and the United States (Part II)

In the second part of General Liu's interview, he continues with his smoke and mirrors by challenging the common notion that China is the major enemy of the US in the current global environment. Instead, General Liu contends that Japan has continued to be the US' top concern over the last 60+ years and that remains in effect today,

"I have always believed that the primary adversary of the United states in Asia is not China but Japan. It is quite probably that not a few knowledgeable persons in the United States share this belief. The United States defeated Japan sixty years ago. That was a difficult and hard-fought battle for the United States, and Japan left it with a deep impression indeed. Japan's stalwart national spirit, well-equipped educational system, and highly developed science and technology - all these combined drew respect from the world. In Churchill's words: "Japan's war machine is frightfully efficient." In only three months' time Japan drove the British and U.S. forces out of the Pacific and Southeast Asia. What country had done so in the past? And what country will be able to do that in the future? Toward the end of the war, when Japan was at the end of its tether, it still drew up a plan called 'break a hundred million pieces of jade [committing suicide].' Awed by this display of determination, the United States finally resolved matters by dropping the atomic bomb. What sort of understanding did the United States gain by fighting this war? It concluded that Japan was a fear-inspiring enemy. The qualities a country displays in wartime can also be displayed in times of peace, although in different domains. This is manifestly evident from Japan's post-war flying economic advances...Japan was a pile of rubble in 1945. It was more or less the same level with China in the 1960s. Then China started its 'Great Cultural Revolution' and tormented itself whereas Japan's economy began to take off. in less than twenty years, Japan left China far behind and was way ahead, catching up with the United States. However, the United States consistently kept a choke hold on the Japanese economy. Japan was highly adept at manufacturing 'small' products but could not make a single 'large' product. Then, with the advent of the science and technology revolution, Japan once again tried to push ahead. Not daring to leave matters to chance, the United States hurriedly concocted an Asian financial crisis and succeeded in curbing the impetus of Japan's spurt forward. The United States knows that China is a country that places inordinate importance on ideology, goes to extremes, is very good at waring itself out, or what might be called "self-destructing," and cannot get is act together. The Japanese are a highly cohesive people. China is like an old man; Japan is like a youngster. China is lethargic, whereas Japan brims with vitality. That is why the United States is much more wary of Japan than China."

I'll interrupt General Liu here only to say that he is sending a signal here. Everything that Japan did from 1960 to 1989, China has now duplicated in every respect other than the average standard of living for its people. Infrastructure is world class, technology has moved forward, higher education is booming, and the people feel young again. Moreover, there is a determined advance underway in China's political circles - the leaders are made by the time they are forty. Many of our closest colleagues in government are making impacting economic decisions on their locales and these leaders are usually between 35 and 45 and have extensive experience abroad. The old man argument does not fool anyone. If anything, it expresses the fact that China finds itself wiser and more capable of taking on an opponent years ahead of it.

General Liu continues,

"That is why the United States has kept Japan so rigidly under its thumb. The United States is much more wary of Japan than of China. So now we can understand why the United States formulated a peace constitution for Japan, a constitution under which Japan forever anjures warfare. The United States is very selfish. It is not doing this for China or Asia but only for itself. It has done this so that when it eventually dominates the world it will have one less opponent and one more helper. In accordance with the U.S. design, today's Japan has become an economic colossus but remains a military dwarf and a political midget. As Shintaro Ishihara put it, "The United States has cut away Japan's testicles and Japan can only serve the United States as a court eunuch." Today, Japan is literally and faithfully serving the United States as a global court eunuch."

Well, I do not want to treat General Liu's metaphor with any type of indifference, because the truth of the matter is that I could not agree more. For a nation as militant as post-Meiji Restoration Japan was, the US has certainly caused an unnatural turnaround in their sovereign mission. Perhaps General Liu then is also signaling a glaring opportunity for China's sovereign desires.

General Liu also mentions that the US has put up more defenses against China in the forms of Taiwan and North Korea...

"The United States feels that having Japan as its only military dog is not enough, so it has bred the 'Taiwan Independence' military dog. These two dogs are keeping watch for it over China...The current focus of the Asian strategy of the United States is on firmly controlling Japan and at the same time guarding against China. 'Hold on to one, and keep an eye on the other.' And if possible possible, 'Swallow' yet another. Which one? North Korea."

General Liu seems to make a good case for the US' recent policy in Asia. I believe that once again we are going to see a war fought in North Korea, but this time it will be political and economic, not militaristic. Frankly, the recent negotiations between South and North Korea about liberalization would seem to favor the United States, as South Korea is every much in the US' pocket as it is in China's. However, if you talk to entrepreneurs in China, many of them have been buying and selling across the Jilin border town of Dadong into North Korea for years now, apparently giving the Chinese the upper hand in terms of economics. Of course we know that the US has an uphill battle to fight politically, given that almost all of North Korea's anti-West rhetoric over the last 50 years has been explicitly aimed at the US. Moreover, during that time big brother China was North Korea's only true ally. Nevertheless, if the US can meander into North Korea's political circles through South Korea, then it ultimately will have the best chance at setting up another front against China.

Finally, General Liu hits on a subject that really makes one think...

"However, that is not the end of it. The Asian strategy of the United States has still another and deeper level, a core level-preventing China and Japan from joining hands...Everyone thinks that is impossible, but Americans believe it is possible. Americans are always able to look ten or more steps ahead when they formulate strategy. We are doing quite well if we manage to look one day ahead. They are able to look two days ahead, three days ahead, and even farther. The biggest difference between China and the United States is the difference in the level of strategic considerations. The United States takes the whole world into consideration, enabling it to look farther ahead. Our perspective is regional, and that is why we are a notch inferior in our calculations. The United States knows that under the present circumstances, its position in Asia cannot be shaken by the individual power of either China or Japan, and the sole possibility of anything happening is if china and Japan join hands."

True. And we also have to read between these lines and realize that even General Liu himself finds that condition impossible under the present circumstances, because he knows that the leadership in Beijing and the will of the people of Japan is nowhere near ready for this. Why? First of all, because life for Japan has been great under the direction of the US. Moreover, the economic benefits that Japan enjoys from its trade relationship with China fall far short of the total benefits it receives in return for its current relationship with the US, including: greater access to world capital markets, a steady flow of immigration to the United States, preferred status among other nations for entering and leaving the United States, preservation and growth of its own culture, the highest standard of living in the world, etc. Can China offer this? Moreover, can China get over its own animosity for Japan? That of course remains to be seen.


[1] Chan, Alfred L Chinese Law and Government, vol. 40, no. 2, March - April 2007, pp45-49