Ending the next war now

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 8/5/2013 / Daily Tribune

This week, the world will be remembering the Aug. 6 and nine bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — murderous incidents where hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were massacred by both US bombs and their own morally infirmed Japanese imperial leaders. Amid today's attempts at reasserting Western neo-imperialist hegemony over the globe, we lay witness to the deployment of the "missile defense" system encircling Russia, followed by last year's US "pivot to Asia" threatening China. Japan, either on its own or under US pressure, triggered tension to justify that pivot by nationalizing the Diaoyu Islands (which it calls Senkaku) and reigniting "ultra-Japanism" with rightwing politician Shinzo Abe's push toward junking Japan's "peace constitution."

Here at home, efforts to stir and intensify anti-Chinese sentiments have been in the works for the past two years, led by some US-based Filipino-Americans and Philippine political personalities. All these culminated last week in an attempt by this "Filipino diaspora" at a "global" spate of anti-China rallies in front of several Chinese embassies. In Manila, a group of around 500 — with some Akbayan "hakots" carrying professionally-printed streamers, alongside some "elite" civil socialites — were all led by a US Annapolis Naval Academy graduate who served as a former Gloria Arroyo national security adviser. One leader there announced that they are not against the people of China but against the Chinese government, without understanding that the Chinese people are probably far more sensitive to their own nation's sovereignty than their politicians.

An even worse misunderstanding on the part of those attempting to stir anti-Chinese sentiments into a maelstrom from RP's territorial disputes with the Asian giant is the idea of promoting an alliance with Japan by opening Philippine naval and other military facilities to the World War II villain. There are just too many adverse memories that the terms "Japan" and "military" conjure up even among the generally historically amnesiac Filipinos.

As we are beginning to see on the Internet in the wake of announcements from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Defense chief, the wounds of Filipina "comfort women" as well as historical accounts and images of the devastation of Manila and the plethora of atrocities under the Japanese military are quickly re-opened.
The latest reaction of the Chinese representative to the Philippines reflects the path China wants to take. Ambassador Ma Keqing last Wednesday suggested that the Philippines meet China halfway in the current standoff in the disputed waters of what I would call "The Asian Sea" (West Philippine Sea or South China Sea), saying the two countries are close neighbors with a friendship that dates back thousands of years. Ma implored the Philippines to "properly handle (such) differences through dialog and consultation, jointly promote cooperation in investment, trade, tourism, agriculture and other areas and enhance exchanges and friendship between the two people." In short, she was proposing that both sides "jaw-jaw" and not "war-war," as British imperialist warmonger Winston Churchill used to say to avoid "lose-lose" situations.

While China is offering more opportunities for dialog and peaceful resolution of tensions with the Philippines, the prospects of which could even surprise anti-China Filipinos with the benefits these can provide the country, China will not be as open and flexible with Japan. China is waiting for any excuse to settle scores with its erstwhile North Asian foe for the oppression and humiliation of World War II — and Japan knows this. While Japan likes to talk tough, it must be noted that the olive branch is being extended by the other hand simultaneously. Led recently by Hiromu Nonaka, former Japanese chief Cabinet secretary, a mission to repair the strained relationship was made as Nonaka recalled the consensus on side-stepping the dispute in allowing more than 40 years of the "common aspiration" for peace and friendship.

There is no reason to believe that Japan wants the tension with China whose market is a major hinge for its own economic recovery and prosperity. In this week of remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the absolute pointlessness of promoting conflict with China and inviting "mutual destruction" through any level of physical conflict among neighbors is highlighted. It is simply utter stupidity — except for those countries that are not in the region, such as the US, whose territories are so far away as to be safe from immediate harm in case of any Asian conflict. It is the US that is pushing the installation of the "missile defense" system in Japan, allegedly to protect against puny North Korea, but which is more believable as a deployment to neutralize China's retaliatory capacity against US assets in the region.

Asia understands that a "next war" in the region will mean devastation for the entire neighborhood; and every effort should be made to overcome the poisoning of minds that US neo-imperialist assets are working at.

As the Unesco Constitution's preamble states: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed…"
We must end the next wars — as well as the next Hiroshimas and Nagasakis — not tomorrow but "today."

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