The following is from Mr. Sekihei’s regular column published in today’s Sankei Shimbun.
It is a must-read not only for Japanese citizens but for people around the world.

Taiwan President Strikes Blow at China-Russia “Territorial Dispute”
On the 1st of this month, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-tsung made some very interesting remarks about China.　
In a Taiwanese TV program broadcast on the same day, Lai said of China’s plan to annex Taiwan, “It is never about territorial integrity. If it concerns territorial integrity, why does China not reclaim the land it ceded to Russia under the Treaty of Aigun?”　
The Treaty of Aigun was a treaty concluded in 1858 between the then-Qing Dynasty and the Russian Empire concerning the delimitation of borders.　
Under this treaty, the Qing Dynasty of the time, whose national power had been weakened by civil war, yielded to Russia’s military threats and ceded land on the left bank of the Amur River that had been Qing territory.
During the Republic of China, after the demise of the Qing dynasty, the government consistently appealed to the then-Russian government and the later Soviet government about the unfairness of the treaty and continued territorial disputes with Russia.
However, when the CCP government came to power, under its initial “one-sided Soviet Union” foreign policy, China sealed off the territorial dispute with the Soviet Union for a long time.　
Then, in 2001, China under the Jiang Zemin administration signed with Russia the “Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation for Good Neighborhood,” which recognized that “neither side has territorial claims against the other,” effectively renouncing its territorial claims against Russia entirely and permanently.　
President Lai’s statement above is based precisely on this historical background.　
He pointed out that the CCP regime easily gave up land that should have been China’s territory and then exposed at once the contradiction and deception in their claim that “Taiwan is China’s territory, and therefore Taiwan must be annexed for its territorial integrity.”　
President Lai further pointed out, “Therefore, China wants to annex Taiwan not for the sake of territorial integrity, but because it wants to destroy the just order in the world.”　
This statement drew a huge response on overseas Chinese-language social networking sites (SNS) and attracted the attention of influential news organizations around the world.　
Major newspapers, such as Reuters and The Guardian in the U.K. and Newsweek and The Washington Post in the U.S., picked up on the comment and reported it, adding positive comments.　
The Russian government was quick to respond to this statement.　
At a press conference on March 3, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated Russia’s position that “there is no territorial problem between China and Russia,” referring to the aforementioned “China-Russia Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation for Good Neighborhood.　
In contrast to the Russian government, which responded without pause, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not shown any reaction to Rai’s statement as of this writing.　
China has been criticized by name and confronted with contradictions, but it has simply decided to remain silent.　
How could the Chinese government possibly respond?　
If they were to respond to the statement, they would expose their own “traitorous act” of ceding the former territories to Russia, both domestically and internationally.
In the end, they will have no choice but to remain silent.
It, too, must have been a “calculated move” on Lai’s part.
Lai’s clever criticism of China will have several effects.
It will show the world the unreasonableness of their claims about the “annexation of Taiwan” with arguments that the Chinese government cannot refute.
At the same time, it will have the power to alarm the international community about China’s ambitions, saying that “the destruction of order is China’s goal.”　
Furthermore, if this statement pointing out the “traitorous acts” of the CPC regime were to reach the Chinese people, it would naturally increase public skepticism and dissatisfaction with the CPC regime.　
President Lai has struck a blow against the CCP regime by “killing several birds with one stone.”  

2024/9/5 in Onomichi