This essay argues that, in the face of China’s decline and the deepening economic and diplomatic disorder in South Korea, Japan should move away from dependence on China and strengthen ties with nations such as those in ASEAN that share its values.
The author sharply criticizes Keidanren for continuing to court China, and also condemns Nikkei for pessimistically portraying Japanese companies’ shift toward Southeast Asia, clearly pointing out the dangers of deeper involvement with China.
The essay further insists that Japan should distance itself from China and South Korea, countries that repay goodwill with hostility, and from a position of “watching from higher ground,” build friendly relations with nations that are truly trustworthy.

2019-03-12
It is only natural that such nations, like “beasts,” should decline.
Japan should simply watch such countries from higher ground, and build friendly relations with nations that share its values.

I was further astonished that 64,000 people had been recruited for the job of “turning off the electricity at universities.”
A chapter I published on 2018-12-13 under that title gathered a large number of searches today and entered the top five.
What follows is from an article by Katsumata Toshiki, former editor-in-chief of Weekly Toyo Keizai, published in this month’s issue of WiLL under the title, Keidanren Still Casting Sheep’s Eyes at China, Keidanren Chairman Says “We Will Contribute to China’s Development”―Is That Something the Leader of the Business World Should Say.
The earlier part is omitted.

A silly article by Nikkei.

On the other hand, there are also Japanese companies that have concluded that “China is finished” and have begun withdrawing from China.
Last year, the number of Japanese expatriates in China fell by about 16 percent compared with 2012, while the number of expatriates in ASEAN increased by about 32 percent.
Investment figures likewise show that investment in China declined by about 30 percent from the same year, while investment in ASEAN doubled.
Under such circumstances, I could hardly believe my eyes when I read the November 4 article in The Nikkei titled, “Japanese Companies Focus on Southeast Asia.”
Regarding the increasingly clear trend of Japanese companies beginning to withdraw from China and place greater emphasis on Southeast Asia, it presented a pessimistic view, saying that there were “concerns that they might miss out on the growth of China, the world’s second-largest economy.”
This is utterly beside the point.
To move aggressively into China at this timing would be like walking into a fire of one’s own accord.
It goes without saying that it is far better to flee to ASEAN, where there are many TPP member countries.
The article concludes that “Southeast Asia has political risks, such as Thailand where military coups occur repeatedly, and exchange-rate risks such as reduced investment returns caused by currency depreciation.”
Then let me say this.
If you go to China, vital intellectual property may be stolen, and if anti-Japanese activity intensifies, factories may even be destroyed.
As for exchange-rate risk, China, which is reducing its foreign exchange reserves, is the more dangerous.
This Nikkei article is so absurd that one might mistake it for Xinhua News Agency or People’s Daily.
It even makes one suspect, cynically, that the article was written under hints from China.

It is enough to watch from higher ground.

It may be useless to worry, but South Korea too will likely find itself in serious trouble in 2019.
President Moon Jae-in is interested only in inter-Korean reconciliation, and his economic policy is so terrible that it hardly deserves to be called “policy.”
Without considering the growth of the economy as a whole, he is trying to raise the minimum wage by as much as 30 percent in two years.
There is no way such a thing could succeed.
What astonished me still more was that 64,000 people were recruited for the job of “turning off the electricity at universities.”
Surely students or security guards could turn off the lights.
Such slapdash measures are being carried out merely to increase the apparent “number of employed persons.”
Because South Korea’s economy depends on China, it will fall together with China.
To avoid that, one would normally think they should rebuild relations with Japan.
And yet, far from doing so, South Korea has turned its bow against Japan over the wartime labor issue.
Its economy, diplomacy, and judiciary are all in complete disarray.
Japan left behind assets of about 8 trillion yen in Korea during the period of Japanese rule, and its ODA to China exceeded a total of 3 trillion yen.
How much goodwill has Japan extended to Korea and China until now.
There is no need for Japan to remain deeply involved in countries that repay such goodwill with hostility.
When Japan received skim milk from the U.S. military during the Occupation, the Diet passed a resolution of gratitude.
Yet from South Korea and China, one cannot feel any such gratitude, ethical sense, conscience―in other words, any “humanity.”
It is only natural that such nations, like “beasts,” should decline.
Japan must not choose the wrong path.
Japan should simply watch such countries from higher ground, and build friendly relations with nations that share its values.