China may need to plot a long term strategy to live without Japan

By China Watcher

The diplomatic skill of the Japanese in handling its relationship with China is deplorable. Perhaps, the hard line stance and the recent comments on the disputed isles were strengthened by the military and moral support given by its main protector, the US.

The US, a country which dwells on its technological superiority and military might played the game of a two-timer – on one hand to be a strong protector of Japan and on the other hand to try to come in as a mediator to the current flare between the second and third largest economies. So can you really trust the US? The answer is obvious.

Rare earth is a commodity which we know is depleting in its supplies throughout the world and it is China right to limit the volume of export to manage and to preserve the commodity for future generation. Furthermore, the extraction of the minerals is known to pose a major health risk due to the polluting effect of the industry. China is indirectly telling the users that it is the right time for these users to search for the minerals elsewhere and China is not interested to be a 97% world producer of such commodity at the lowest price indefinitely. The cheap price of its own commodities can best be used in its own industries where the consumption is already assured. But Japan and other Western nations continue to make a hue and cry over the issue, perhaps, to portray to the world that China is an unethical producer and neighbor.

Japan will not relent on the few islets which remain an important part of Japanese mission to stretch its sovereignty claim that would include even Taiwan and certain parts of Philippines under the 200 km exclusive economic zone from the nearest islets or atolls.

China must clearly re-look at a strategy to be less dependent on Japan and if possible, to plot the country mission to grow and develop further without Japan.

China, being a self sufficient country with a huge productive population, can survive without Japan but I am very doubtful Japan can survive without China, given that the US, a strong provider to the island nation 30 years of prosperity, is at the pinnacle of its economic and military level and is now on a declining slope. But the Western media and many experts from the West still do not accept this fact willingly but to try to hide the outright shame of losing the status to an Asian country that do not practice Western liberal democracies. That is the main reason why these Westerners and power makers from the West (with a clear hidden agenda) have been promoting India, not because of its potential as a future economic power but because it is a democracy. India has many fallacies and I don’t think it would even match up to China in the next 30 years. I have more faith in Brazil than India when it comes to making a prediction even though I am the same person who believes that Asia should be main impetus of growth in the next 50 years.

China is aware that the US still plays an important part as the main provider of economic activities but over the past few years, we have also seen China role in enlarging its trade with other emerging countries other than the US. As for Japan, I can only view Japan as an investor and possibly as a miser in providing technology.

Presently, China view India as a more important economic partner than Japan and as such the redeployment of a strategy to move out of the Japanese economic sphere would not be very difficult although I have to admit a large measure of sacrifice had to be made by all Chinese people throughout the world in the short to medium term.

What new pressure is the West talking about over the Nobel Prize

By China Watcher

It really amazes me how the Western media continue to twist the issue to its own advantage by claiming that there is new pressure over the Nobel laureate.

Taking comments from the Japanese Prime Minister, the US and possibly the voice from EU in Brussels and another comment from Norway over the cancellation of meetings with two small time diplomats, the media tried desperately to portray and exaggerate the situation as though the pressure on China is so great that China will need to change. A clear case of trying to mislead the reader to think that this is what is happening.

First and foremost, the criticisms are mainly from WESTERN NATIONS (make up of not more than 30 nations) and also, from a US “protectorate” JAPAN. They do not represent the WORLD. So where is the PRESSURE!

Secondly, a lot of Third World countries (160 independent nations) have not made any comments on the awards. Silent meant that they do not agree with the West. One possibly reason is that its own dissidents would someday be given the JUNK AWARD if they do not toe the Western way of livings or standards like what happened in Cuba and Venezuela.

I like to state here, that the JUNK AWARD has no impact on China. China should continue to ignore what the Norwegian government has commented or will said in the near future as it will have no bearing on its relationship with the rest of the world.

Let the Norwegian government think about the repercussions of its wrongful decision. The Sino- Norwegian ties is just not worth the trouble.

Who says Norway is not involved in the Nobel Peace Prize

By China Watcher

Norwegian Minister claimed that the Norway Government has no role in the prize winners' selection is not true. The Norwegian Parliament is the body which appointed the members on the Committee that decided on the Nobel Peace Prize just like the Corporate Board which appointed its members to a decision making Committee who then will vote for a particular venture or business proposals. The Norwegian Parliament consists of elected representatives of the present ruling Norwegian Administration and I am sure that the Cabinet will have an influence in the appointment of “friendly” members. But the government choose to “wash its hands” by making untruthful claims that they are not the people in the selection of the peace prize. Furthermore, the government has been pre-warned not to support such a move but continue to make press statement supporting the choice of the Nobel Peace Award for this year.

The Nobel Prize is a western tool and it does not represent the wishes of the people who crafted it. Last year winner, the selection of the current US President was really a bad choice as I am still wondering and continue to wonder how did Obama contributed to Peace when he could not even resolve the Middle East Crisis and the North Korean nuclear issue.

China shall continue to retaliate against the Norwegian government and to send a clear message to the world that they should not interfere in the governance of China and its people.

What Nobel Prize? A piece of Western Junk!

By China Watcher

If you witnessed every year on the award of Nobel Prizes for Sciences like Chemistry and Physics, the winners are mostly people of Caucasian background with perhaps, one or two Japanese who are known to be very gullible for things that are Western. Does this really mean that the people of other backgrounds other than the Caucasian people are not intelligent or creative enough to win such awards? Why? If you can do just a bit of research and find out who are behind these awards you will have the right answers. Yes, the Committees (decision makers) of these awards are made of persons appointed by the Swedish government and sponsored by the US and big Western companies. Don’t ask me the reason but somehow the world press (mostly Western media) has given so much authority to Sweden, a small European nation, who is very proud of themselves as intelligent beings and civilized people of this earth.

And the Nobel Prize is administered by the Norwegian parliament, another small Viking nation whose elected representatives consist of only 5 million inhabitants. The reason why this award is given so much recognition is also due to the flow of information controlled by the mostly Western media. As people of the Third World and the developing nations, representing 2/3 of the population of the world, the question I would like to pose is why should we be easily influenced by these awards which is to spread Western influence and its’ so called universal values into our civilized societies. (“WHY” here means Third World and Emerging Nations).

The award of the Peace Prize to Third World countries dissidents is not new and yesterday prize given to Liu Xiaobo is not a surprise. The West hope that by giving this award it will spur democratic changes in China and that the Western standard of human rights are adopted in the most populous nation. I have stated this many times – the change to the political structure in China is up to the Chinese people and that being an ancient country with a strong asian values and age-old tradition, it will take a while. It is not up to a few sparkling individuals promoted by the West to champion the downfall of the one party rule. The Chinese people in groups will have the final say and it is also up to the Chinese people to develop its own brand of democracy which may not be similar to the West.

The award of such prize will normally have no impact on the country concerned of which it is directed and if you run through the list of dissidents awarded, did you see any change to the ruling government. A big NO. The award perhaps will do its part to excite the human right activists and lovers.

Following the award, some of world WESTERN political leaders call for the release of the imprisoned dissident. Take note of the world – only WESTERN. And the interviews published by the Western media only focus on those few human right activists certified persona-non-grata by the Chinese government like Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama and of course, the foolish Lech Walesa. Why only now? Shouldn’t this be a continuous call if they are serious about it? The hypocrisy demonstrated is really unbecoming.

Beijing have every right to make a very strong representation over the case. Liu Xiaobo is just a normal criminal based on Chinese laws and I call for China to downgrade its bilateral relations with Norway. This is one of the many acts of the West to demonize China and its people and people of Chinese origin throughout the world should take note of this.

If you are an Asian and you want to win the Nobel Prize, just become a famous dissident and you will be rewarded handsomely by the West. Winning the other Sciences prizes are difficult because you may need to turn yourselves into a Caucasian performing research in a Western university.

China is not fearful of a “US protectorate” known as Japan

By China Watcher

Western media, as usual, played up a similar tune that Japan has the upper-hand and continue to emphasize that the Diaoyu islands are Japan’s territory which is not up for discussion following the Chinese fishing boat collision with Japanese patrol vessels in September near the islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both countries as well as Taiwan.

Chinese media pointed out that the disputed islands are Chinese owned based on Chinese historical annals. Actually, both sides have reiterated their own stand but most Western or US media, with a hidden agenda, left out the Chinese version of this and highlighted the Japanese version which is only one part of the story. Some Asian countries media particularly the online Singaporean owned Channel News Asia, published the one sided story taken wholesale from Reuters or AFP.

I noticed over the past weeks since the arrest of the fishing boat captain after the incident, the news coming from the West put the blame squarely on China and its’ so called “authoritarian” rulers.

First, what has this current Chinese government, which is not elected by the people generally, has to do with the crisis. Even if the Chinese government is run by democratically elected individuals, the response towards the infringement of Chinese territory or sovereignty will still be the same, if not worse. There were actual Chinese government efforts to restrain the huge anti-Japanese protest in China over the incident. Taiwan, a renegade province of China, is a good example of a democratic entity where the people are also up in arms against the Japanese claim that the no man area is its own territories.

Secondly, the reaction of the Chinese, I would say is normal and the response is acceptable to the large number of people of Chinese origin throughout the world. Japan put the good bilateral ties with China at risk by gambling on the notion that maintaining a tough stance with the arrest of the “trespassers” will strengthen its opinion that these disputed islands belonged to them. Beijing suspended ministerial-level talks with Tokyo and postponed talks on jointly developing undersea gas fields were good calculated decision which are deemed more “mature” responses as compared to the Tokyo release of the fishing boat captain (as stated by the Western media).

Beijing demanded that Tokyo offer an apology is also a measured and well thought request because the captain and his crew were detained in an area where the sovereignty is questionable and hence, it is not wrong of the Chinese government to seek for one. The argument from the Japanese that the Chinese trawler tried to ramp the Japanese coast guards is also questionable since the collision of a small trawler with a strongly build steel hull would tantamount to be more like a “suicidal” effort.

The imposition of a de facto export ban on rare earth materials needed in Japan for advanced manufacturing during the spat has opened up debates in the Nippon country of seeking substitutes or alternatives. The exports of valuable resources from China to the world are many and it is not easy for a small nation like Japan which is deprived of natural resources to locate cheaper and reliable substitutes elsewhere. Let see how Japan in the next few months come up with such a strategy.
The hue and cry by the Japanese cabinet and the many hawkish politicians can be depicted as “smaller little brothers throwing tantrums at their bigger brother who refused to give it to their unreasonable request”.

The impromptu meeting in a hallway at a conference in Europe was the highest-level contact between the countries since a bitter territorial dispute. This is needed very much by the Japanese and I believe it is initiated by the Japanese delegation.

Japan still has territorial claim or disputes with Russia over the northern territories off Hokkaido since the Second World War. The Russian has stand firm on the matter and Japan is left pondering what to do next. Perhaps, the bigger protector of Japan the US has some ideas but so far, we have not seen any.

As China is getting stronger and confident by the day, it is important not to be afraid of Japan for the following reasons:

1. Japan is deemed a small nation with no resources. India, Brazil and even Russia will one day overtake the industrialized nation due to the vast potential in terms of size and resources.

2. China is no longer the “sick man of Asia” as proclaimed by imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s. At present, China has already proven over and over again that this stigma is wrong by becoming the second largest economy and has also made significant advances in science and technology.

3. The US which is Japan’s known protector is already on top of the world for the past one century and I believe that there is only direction when you are at the peak, that is, to move down and we are seeing some signs that this is happening. The question is how many years more can US protect them.

4. Japan has certainly lost its Asian identity and it is becoming more Western which indirectly means that its own society that promotes family bonding, industriousness and the display of strong problem solving spirit would no longer be present.

5. Japan cannot even do anything over the Kurile Islands occupied by Russia since World War Two.

6. China has diversified its investment and its market to the EU countries, ASEAN, Africa and certain Latin American countries to be less reliant on Japan and the US.

7. Japan and the South Korea economies are now very dependent on the strength of the Chinese economy, and the well being of these two countries would suffer if they antagonize China.

8. Even it there is no investment from Japan, China will still be able to survive albeit at a slower growth rate. In fact, the Japanese are not known to be generous in the transfer of technologies as compared to the French and the Germans.

9. China has team up with Russia and made a common stand in dealing with Japan over the territorial matters.

10. In terms of international diplomacy, the Chinese are far ahead of the Japanese whose foreign policy had become very much US-centric.