China’s tremendous economic development was originally thanks to Japan, yet if it shows no gratitude and attributes everything to the achievements of the Chinese Communist Party, its future is all too clear.
November 30, 2019
The following is from Kimindo Kusaka’s regular column, “Hints for Prosperity,” published under the title “Prime Minister Abe’s Strategy of Winning Without Fighting” in the monthly magazine WiLL, released on the 26th.
When Lee Teng-hui was mayor, he created parks every hundred meters as part of Taipei’s urban planning.
Large green trees grew luxuriantly there, and food stalls would prepare soup or rice in soup right before your eyes and serve it to you.
As a result, women in Taipei were freed from the task of preparing breakfast and went to work at their companies, working harder than men, so I thought that Taiwan’s economy would soon develop tremendously.
This was truly work-style reform.
However, people in Taiwan said that this was something the Japanese had taught them through their own example, and that once the Japanese had withdrawn, who could say what would happen next…
I thought that the Taiwanese would revert to being Chinese and take delight in erecting enormous buildings—but, thinking that it would be rude to say so, I pointed instead to the exhaust fumes from American-made cars filling Taipei’s skies and said, “Getting rid of this should come first.”
I said that banning imports of Japanese-made compact cars, which were ahead of the Muskie Act’s emissions regulations, was like strangling oneself, but those who delighted in driving American cars did not seem to understand.
However, they understood relatively quickly, and before long there were Japanese cars everywhere.
Good money drove out bad money so quickly that, watching it happen, I felt convinced that “the world will eventually become Japanese.”
Similarly, I thought that Xi Jinping would soon reach an impasse.
This was because he made such outrageously grand pronouncements, and I felt that he would eventually bring about his own downfall.
I think it is important for those in power to develop the caution necessary to put the brakes on their own thinking, but there are very few such people.
Most try to concentrate still more power in their hands and build towers that soar into the clouds.
A good example is the People’s Republic of China, which, after succeeding in its postwar revolution, enacted a new constitution and declared the nationalization of land; writing that on paper was possible, but I could not imagine what would happen after that.
There is a story in Greek mythology about a man who asked a god to make everything he touched turn to gold, and although his wish was granted, even his own daughter became a bronze statue of gold—no, a gold statue—and he hurriedly begged for the gift to be revoked.
Looking at China’s present construction boom, which began with the nationalization of land, I feel that this was indeed how it was bound to turn out.
Whether land has utility depends on how it is used, but that requires capital, technology, and a future outlook for the market.
China has none of that.
What can be accomplished through the supposed omnipotence of political power has no permanence.
Most Japanese understand this, but some do not, and when Japanese who do not understand join forces with Chinese who do not understand and act out of greed, the result is a colossal failure.
Even if Communist Party officials become the new landlords through the nationalization of land, no profit can be made if their development plans are a mess.
Mountains of unprofitable developments accumulated, and ultimately the growth rate of China’s economy steadily declined.
In the past, when the order to “maintain eight” was issued, reports of eight-percent growth would come in across the board, but now even the reported figures keep falling.
They will probably fall to five percent or below before long.
And so, in the partnership between Prime Minister Abe and President Trump, Japan now appears to be assuming the leading role.
Looking at the EU and the refugee issue as well, it seems that Europe has fallen out of the running and Japan alone retains the power to lead the world.
China’s tremendous economic development was originally thanks to Japan, yet if it shows no gratitude and attributes everything to the achievements of the Chinese Communist Party, its future is all too clear.
Ultimately, it comes down to wanting to take Taiwan in its entirety, so Taiwan has woken up and is now faced with the choice of siding with Beijing or Washington.
Japan, too, cannot remain a bystander.
Then what will happen?
I think Taiwan will side with Washington rather than Beijing, but when I consider how Beijing will respond at that point, and then what Japan will do…, the discussion returns to Japan after all, yet Japan seems to be leaving relations with foreign countries entirely to Prime Minister Abe alone.
But that would make Japan a dictatorship.
Prime Minister Abe might declare that he can no longer look after a country like this.
Or it is conceivable that President Trump might say so.
If that happens, I do not know whether to call it a situation of rival warlords carving out their own domains or something resembling the Balkan Peninsula, but since Japan does not wish to see such turmoil arise in Asia, it must state what it wants before other countries do.
As a result, Japan will come to lead the world.
Enormous expectations rest on Japan, but perhaps a victory through winning without fighting will come.
Prime Minister Abe is already putting that into practice.