Based on Yoshihisa Komori’s Sankei Shimbun column, this article examines the stark difference between Japan and the United States in their stance toward China over the novel coronavirus. While the United States clearly pursues the responsibility of the Chinese Communist regime, Japan’s government and Diet continue to avoid even mentioning the name China. The article argues that Japan must face the source of the outbreak and China’s responsibility in order to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

May 24, 2020
Whether it is a taboo or a spell, it seems that one must not utter the name of China.
Internationally as well, a discussion of the novel coronavirus that makes no mention whatsoever of China is the height of heresy.
The abnormality of Japan’s national politics in this regard makes one shudder.
The following is from Yoshihisa Komori’s serial column, published in today’s Sankei Shimbun under the title “Japan’s Abnormality in Not Questioning the Source.”
The emphasis in the text, apart from the headline, is mine.
For the past three months or so, I have witnessed, in both Washington and Tokyo, the great onslaught of the novel coronavirus that originated in China.
The two countries, Japan and the United States, both grievously wounded, were entirely the same in the way their governments and private sectors first devoted their utmost efforts to saving the infected and preventing the spread.
But in all other reactions, I was shocked by a contrast as stark as black and white.
That difference lies in their stance toward China’s responsibility as the source of the virus.
In the United States, criticism of China was clear from the very beginning of the infection.
It was criticism that the response of the Xi Jinping regime, which concealed the raging new viral infection in Wuhan, punished doctors on the front line who had sounded the alarm, and even spread false information, was the main cause that spread this evil virus throughout the world.
Underlying that criticism is the recognition that the distortion of the Communist Party dictatorship produced such an abnormal response.
The extraordinary speech on May 4 by Matt Pottinger, deputy national security adviser in charge of Asia policy at the National Security Council of the Trump administration, summed up that recognition.
From the very center of the White House, the deputy adviser delivered a 20-minute speech in fluent Chinese.
It was transmitted in a form that could be viewed around the world on the Internet.
“Dr. Li Wenliang, who was suppressed after warning the public about the spread of a dangerous virus infection in Wuhan, must surely have wished for a democratic society where information could be freely disclosed. The whole world is watching whether the Chinese people will realize a government centered on the people, instead of an oppressive regime.”
It was a challenging stance, one that distinguished between China’s Communist Party regime and the ordinary Chinese people while denouncing that regime’s handling of the virus.
This stance is consistent with the Trump administration’s overall policy toward China, in which President Trump has used the extreme phrase “a complete break with China” and declared that “this infection would not have become a pandemic without the improper actions of the Chinese government.”
The U.S. government has now begun taking strong measures in various fields, with the Department of Justice, the State Department, the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, and others moving to restrain, exclude, and crack down on China.
The federal Congress is filled with even more intense denunciations of China.
Lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties have begun actively pursuing the responsibility of the Chinese authorities for the international spread of the virus, from searching for its source to prosecuting charges under international law and demanding compensation from China.
They are submitting bills and resolutions, and promoting investigations as Congress.
Behind these moves lies the criticism of China by the American public at large.
In a mid-April public opinion poll by the Harris Poll, nearly 80 percent of respondents answered that “the Chinese government is responsible” for the massive spread of the novel coronavirus in the United States.
Then what about Japan?
It can be said that Japan’s government and Diet almost never use the word “China” in connection with the viral infection.
Whether it is a taboo or a spell, it seems that one must not utter the name of China.
Internationally as well, a discussion of the novel coronavirus that makes no mention whatsoever of China is the height of heresy.
The abnormality of Japan’s national politics in this regard makes one shudder.
In order never again to allow a tragedy that torments and wounds the Japanese people to recur, it is indispensable to investigate why such a situation occurred.
In that work, investigation and research into why such a dangerous virus entered Japan from China will surely be indispensable.
（Guest Correspondent stationed in Washington）