A featured dialogue in Monthly HANADA reveals firsthand testimony of censorship, intimidation, and exile under the Chinese Communist Party. As global media attention grows, the conversation explains why “the lies of the CCP” have become a central international concern.

2017-05-07
What follows is a continuation of the previous section.
The following is taken from a twelve-page, three-column special dialogue feature published in the May issue of Monthly HANADA, featuring Homare Endo, Director of the International Exchange Center at Tokyo University of Social Welfare, and Lajiao, a Chinese cartoonist living in exile.
“Send This Message to the World: China’s Lies and the Suppression of Free Speech.”
“The True Enemy of the Xi Jinping Regime.”
Endo said that Lajiao did not initially come to Japan seeking asylum, but arrived on a tourist visa.
Lajiao replied that a friend in Japan had invited him and his wife, so they came to Japan on tourist visas in May 2013, intending to stay for three months and then return home.
However, just before returning to China, his Weibo account ID and password, along with his blog, were deleted simultaneously, and all of his accounts on the online shopping site Taobao were also erased.
Furthermore, on the website of the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, there is a forum called the “Strong Nation Forum,” where various people can post opinions, and posts appeared there saying, “Lajiao is pro-Japanese,” “Lajiao is a Japan-lover,” “Lajiao is a traitor,” and “Lajiao should be judged by law.”
These accusations were then successively reposted on more than ten websites, including Tianjin Net operated by the Tianjin Daily and Liberation Net operated by the Liberation Daily, creating a situation in which he would certainly be arrested if he returned to China.
Endo observed that this left him with no choice but to remain in Japan.
Lajiao said that he had brought only summer clothes, which made the situation extremely difficult at first.
He added that no matter how many times he re-registered a Weibo account, it was deleted, and the total number exceeded two hundred.
Endo said that although he usually does not buy most China-related books published in Japan, he immediately purchased Lajiao’s book Reading the Lying Chinese Communist Party Through Manga.
He explained that he had occasionally read Lajiao’s online columns, admired their accurate analysis of China, and had also been interested in his satirical cartoons.
When he saw the statement in the book that “the true enemy of the Xi Jinping regime is the Chinese people,” he was deeply impressed, feeling that Lajiao truly understood the essence of China.
Lajiao responded that he was deeply moved to hear such words from someone like Professor Endo.
Endo then explained that while he had long wished to meet Lajiao, he received an email from the U.S. government-funded media outlet Voice of America stating, “A cartoonist named Lajiao very much wants to meet Professor Endo,” and he felt it was destiny that their meeting came about.
This took place shortly after the beginning of the year.
Lajiao replied that he too had learned through many Chinese-language introductions on the VOA website about Endo’s book Mao Zedong: The Man Who Conspired with the Japanese Army, and had wanted to meet him as soon as possible.
He added that after being interviewed by VOA, he heard that the same staff had also interviewed Professor Endo and had already produced three programs, so he immediately asked to meet him.
Endo stated that The Lying Chinese Communist Party shared a powerful commonality with his own work in that it was written precisely because it resists China’s suppression of free speech.
He said that he is frequently interviewed by outlets such as VOA and the BBC, and that this is because the world today has a strong interest in the theme of “the lies of the Chinese Communist Party.”
He added that this perspective is shared by overseas Chinese communities as well.
Many Chinese people leave the country because they feel they can no longer endure the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, and they all share a common viewpoint.
Endo then asked what first prompted Lajiao to question the Chinese Communist Party, or to take an interest in what he calls “the lies of the Chinese Communist Party.”
To be continued.