Published on July 12, 2019.
As a continuation of the previous chapter, this passage discusses the essence of the historical relationship between the Korean Peninsula and China through Kim Jong Un’s visit to Beijing, his relationship with Xi Jinping, the revival of tributary diplomacy, and Masayuki Takayama’s remarks on the name “Chōsen.”
Against the background of U.S.-China confrontation, the Taiwan issue, and developments in North Korea, it reads contemporary East Asian affairs within a continuum of history.

2019-07-12
Does Masayuki Takayama not explain the reason Koreans dislike being called Chōsenjin?
What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.
Kim Jong Un suddenly went to Beijing.　
Xi Jinping, who had become a perpetual dictator shortly before that, looked very pleased.　
There was footage of Kim Jong Un desperately taking notes on Xi’s words as the latter spoke face to face.
In the North, Kim Jong Un’s aides desperately take notes on the words he speaks.
That is the form loyalty takes there, and his uncle Jang Song-thaek did not do that.
As a result, he was blown to pieces by anti-aircraft machine-gun fire.　
That was Kim Jong Un’s pose of absolute obedience.
Xi, for his part, responded by giving him gifts worth a total of 400,000 dollars, including a three-meter Jingdezhen vase, cinnabar and white porcelain vessels, and Moutai liquor.
It was a direct reenactment of the tributary diplomacy of old.
Incidentally, the tribute items once brought by Yi Dynasty Chōsen were extremely shabby.
There is therefore a theory that China made them adopt the national name “Chōsen” because their “tribute was scant.”
Does Masayuki Takayama not explain the reason Koreans dislike being called Chōsenjin?　
Even so, why did Kim Jong Un, who had executed Jang Song-thaek, assassinated Kim Jong Nam, and blustered that he would fire nuclear weapons even at Beijing, decide to bow his head?
One reason was the appointment of the hardliner Bolton as presidential adviser just before this lightning visit, and another was that at about the same time the GPS function of U.S. communications satellites suddenly stopped.　
The shutdown was very brief, but the United States has invariably stopped GPS just before recent wars, such as the attack on Syria.
And so, it is said, Kim Jong Un was frightened out of his wits.　
What, then, of Xi Jinping?
He had finally become a perpetual dictator, but Trump’s moves went beyond what he had anticipated.
Trump appears improvised and haphazard, but in accordance with the pledges he made at the time of his inauguration, he imposed high tariffs amounting to five trillion yen on China, the thief of intellectual property.
On top of that, soon after taking office he said, “I have never heard of one China.”
The Asahi Shimbun tried things like saying, “No, Trump says in his heart that China is one,” but now the United States has come to say that cabinet-level exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan are acceptable and that it will even provide submarine technology.　
In Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations, China takes Japan into its fold and also invades Taiwan.
The United States is assumed to make concessions up to that point, but when China next tries to seize Vietnam, the Third World War begins.　
But in reality, Japan’s China allergy is close to the extreme.
In addition, the United States has now shown through its latest actions that it will not accept a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.　
When he was lonely, Kim Jong Un came to him.
The perpetual dictator was probably very pleased.　
There must surely be people of keen discernment all over the world who would agree that my assessment that Masayuki Takayama is the one and only journalist in the postwar world is exactly right.