DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / February 10, 2014
Immediately after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22, 2014, the international media exploded with reports of Abe likening the present year, 2014, to the eve of World War I in 1914. He was further reported to have compared China to Nazi Germany and Japan to England.
The Chinese response, summed up in a high-level statement from China’s National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Fu Ying at the Munich Security Conference last Feb. 1, declared: “Now is the era of peace and development… the ‘Chinese dream’ can’t be realized without a good external environment... the ‘Chinese dream’ will add to peace and prosperity of... the world.”
Two weeks after Abe’s reported comparisons, the Japanese foreign ministry announced on Feb. 3 to Japanese media Asahi and Sankei Shimbun(s) that PM Abe’s controversial remarks were “embellished” by “an employee” of the “private interpretation firm.”
A translation from the chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga shows Abe being asked about a possible Japan-China conflict, where Abe replied: “This year marks the 100th year since World War I. At the time, Britain and Germany had a strong economic relationship, but they went to war… If something like you suggest were to happen, it would cause serious losses to both Japan and China... We must ensure this will not happen.”
Despite this clarification from the Japanese government about the erroneous translation, BS Aquino in an interview with the New York Times echoed the false Abe comparisons and called on world leaders not to err in appeasing China over the China Sea issues, saying, “Well, the world has to say it… Remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War II...”
China’s state news agency, Xinhua, thus branded Aquino as a “disgrace,” noting how he had “exposed his true colors as an amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality.”
History-on-the-Net writes, “The Sudetenland was taken away from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and given to Czechoslovakia… Although American President Woodrow Wilson had wanted people in disputed regions to be allowed to decide where they would live this did not happen.”
Sudetenland was first “taken away,” with its German population severely discriminated against, before it was “given back” in the alleged “appeasement” prior to WWII.
The Palace Idiot thus stepped into the very complex labyrinth of WWII history where even angels dread to tread. While Japan was able to correct the mistranslation of Abe’s remarks, there is now absolutely nothing that Malacañang can do to remedy Aquino’s gross ignorance.
Since US President Barack Obama announced in November 2011 the US “pivot” to Asia, i.e. the US’ programmed deployment of 60 percent of its military assets to the region by 2020, there has been a steady stream of tension and disinformation in relation to the China Sea issues, particularly between China on one side and Japan and the Philippines on the other.
The Philippines raised tensions with China in April 2012 when it attempted to arrest — despite the long-held tradition of “coexistence” between seafarers — Chinese fishing boats in the Scarborough (a.k.a. Ayungin) Shoal claimed by both countries, resulting in a prolonged standoff between Philippine naval (grey) and several Chinese maritime surveillance ships.
This was followed by outbursts of Chinese emotions when the Japanese government officially announced in September 2012 its purchase of the Diaoyu Islands from private Japanese hands, effectively nationalizing them, and unavoidably drawing in official Chinese government counteraction.
Following that, in September 2013, the Philippine Secretary of National Defense accused China of setting up 75 concrete blocks to construct a new base at the Scarborough Shoal, only to retract it a month later (October) when the Philippine government, amid much embarrassment, was forced to admit that these were actually US target practice anchors.
And soon after, Japanese PM Abe made that infamous visit to the Yasukuni shrine infested by known Japanese war criminals, which again provoked furor from neighboring countries.
On Jan. 10, 2014, to China’s surprise, its 30-year old fishing rules burst into a front page issue when Washington labeled them “provocative and potentially dangerous,” to which China replied: “For more than 30 years, China’s relevant fisheries laws and regulations… have never caused any tension… If someone feels the need to say that technical amendments… pose a threat to regional stability… then it must be due to an ulterior motive.”
Then, by mid-January, news spread like wildfire in Philippine and Western media that “China will invade Pagasa Island in 2014,” which a few days later the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department and presidential spokesman denied as having had any basis at all.
Who could forget China’s announcement of its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that was attended by the US and Japan’s virulent objections, when both had already imposed their own ADIZs way back in the 1960s, with Japan’s overlapping parts of China’s Exclusive Economic Zone and with China actually being the last country in East Asia to have implemented this.
But before clarification could be absorbed by the world audience, Japan quickly accused China on Feb. 2 of planning an ADIZ over the entire China Sea, a falsehood China emphatically denied two days later.
Strangely, after months of black propaganda against China, US Pacific Command chief Admiral Samuel Locklear, stated on Feb. 5: “China (is) ‘acting professionally’ in (its) air defense zone.”
Through it all, Japanese and Philippine political leaders seem to be staging a continuous, scripted show to create anti-China scandals that have no basis in reality. They may not notice it yet but they are looking and sounding more and more like dumbassed “muppets” in a geopolitical media show.
(Watch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; e-mail me at htlnow@fastmail.fm; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
Immediately after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22, 2014, the international media exploded with reports of Abe likening the present year, 2014, to the eve of World War I in 1914. He was further reported to have compared China to Nazi Germany and Japan to England.
The Chinese response, summed up in a high-level statement from China’s National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Fu Ying at the Munich Security Conference last Feb. 1, declared: “Now is the era of peace and development… the ‘Chinese dream’ can’t be realized without a good external environment... the ‘Chinese dream’ will add to peace and prosperity of... the world.”
Two weeks after Abe’s reported comparisons, the Japanese foreign ministry announced on Feb. 3 to Japanese media Asahi and Sankei Shimbun(s) that PM Abe’s controversial remarks were “embellished” by “an employee” of the “private interpretation firm.”
A translation from the chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga shows Abe being asked about a possible Japan-China conflict, where Abe replied: “This year marks the 100th year since World War I. At the time, Britain and Germany had a strong economic relationship, but they went to war… If something like you suggest were to happen, it would cause serious losses to both Japan and China... We must ensure this will not happen.”
Despite this clarification from the Japanese government about the erroneous translation, BS Aquino in an interview with the New York Times echoed the false Abe comparisons and called on world leaders not to err in appeasing China over the China Sea issues, saying, “Well, the world has to say it… Remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War II...”
China’s state news agency, Xinhua, thus branded Aquino as a “disgrace,” noting how he had “exposed his true colors as an amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality.”
History-on-the-Net writes, “The Sudetenland was taken away from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and given to Czechoslovakia… Although American President Woodrow Wilson had wanted people in disputed regions to be allowed to decide where they would live this did not happen.”
Sudetenland was first “taken away,” with its German population severely discriminated against, before it was “given back” in the alleged “appeasement” prior to WWII.
The Palace Idiot thus stepped into the very complex labyrinth of WWII history where even angels dread to tread. While Japan was able to correct the mistranslation of Abe’s remarks, there is now absolutely nothing that Malacañang can do to remedy Aquino’s gross ignorance.
Since US President Barack Obama announced in November 2011 the US “pivot” to Asia, i.e. the US’ programmed deployment of 60 percent of its military assets to the region by 2020, there has been a steady stream of tension and disinformation in relation to the China Sea issues, particularly between China on one side and Japan and the Philippines on the other.
The Philippines raised tensions with China in April 2012 when it attempted to arrest — despite the long-held tradition of “coexistence” between seafarers — Chinese fishing boats in the Scarborough (a.k.a. Ayungin) Shoal claimed by both countries, resulting in a prolonged standoff between Philippine naval (grey) and several Chinese maritime surveillance ships.
This was followed by outbursts of Chinese emotions when the Japanese government officially announced in September 2012 its purchase of the Diaoyu Islands from private Japanese hands, effectively nationalizing them, and unavoidably drawing in official Chinese government counteraction.
Following that, in September 2013, the Philippine Secretary of National Defense accused China of setting up 75 concrete blocks to construct a new base at the Scarborough Shoal, only to retract it a month later (October) when the Philippine government, amid much embarrassment, was forced to admit that these were actually US target practice anchors.
And soon after, Japanese PM Abe made that infamous visit to the Yasukuni shrine infested by known Japanese war criminals, which again provoked furor from neighboring countries.
On Jan. 10, 2014, to China’s surprise, its 30-year old fishing rules burst into a front page issue when Washington labeled them “provocative and potentially dangerous,” to which China replied: “For more than 30 years, China’s relevant fisheries laws and regulations… have never caused any tension… If someone feels the need to say that technical amendments… pose a threat to regional stability… then it must be due to an ulterior motive.”
Then, by mid-January, news spread like wildfire in Philippine and Western media that “China will invade Pagasa Island in 2014,” which a few days later the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department and presidential spokesman denied as having had any basis at all.
Who could forget China’s announcement of its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that was attended by the US and Japan’s virulent objections, when both had already imposed their own ADIZs way back in the 1960s, with Japan’s overlapping parts of China’s Exclusive Economic Zone and with China actually being the last country in East Asia to have implemented this.
But before clarification could be absorbed by the world audience, Japan quickly accused China on Feb. 2 of planning an ADIZ over the entire China Sea, a falsehood China emphatically denied two days later.
Strangely, after months of black propaganda against China, US Pacific Command chief Admiral Samuel Locklear, stated on Feb. 5: “China (is) ‘acting professionally’ in (its) air defense zone.”
Through it all, Japanese and Philippine political leaders seem to be staging a continuous, scripted show to create anti-China scandals that have no basis in reality. They may not notice it yet but they are looking and sounding more and more like dumbassed “muppets” in a geopolitical media show.
(Watch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; e-mail me at htlnow@fastmail.fm; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
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