The recent machinations of China against Japan are unsettling. Can it be possible that the Communist dictators in Beijing don't recognize the irony of China telling Japan it "must face up to its past"? As perhaps the most brutal regime on the face of the earth over the past 50 years, China is hardly in a position to throw stones at anyone.
I certainly don't sympathize with Japan, and believe strongly that just as Germany must never forget its heinous genocide during the Holocaust, Japan must continue to eschew its imperialist designs and brutality of the past.
But complaints by China about textbooks in Japan minimizing Japan's role in World War II are hypocritical, at best. One can only imagine the lies and deceit woven into the fabric of brainwashing taking place in Chinese textbooks in schools every single day. It is probably true that China brainwashes and lies to more children on any given day than all of the world's other children over the past 50 years combined.
Nor does China stop with textbooks. It lies in its captive media about communism, about China and its own sordid history, including its invasion and eugenics policy in Tibet, kidnapping the Panchen Lama and replacing him with a handpicked puppet, oppression and aggression against Taiwan and the vicious lie known as the "one China" policy, to fulfill the plan to destroy Taiwan's democracy and its culture -- the very existence of which demonstrates the comparative failure and weakness of communism.
Then there is China's facilitation of wars by brutal communist dictators in Vietnam, and Korea, support of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and of North Korea's dictators, father and son, guilty of murdering hundreds of thousands, and starving millions.
What about China's totalitarian oppression of all free speech, religious worship outside its Communist-policed churches and the flow of all information from the outside world?
Compared to the surreal 1984-like communist dictatorship in China, Japan is a relatively free, open and democratic society which contributes to the world, not threatens it every single day, as does China.
Of course we must ensure Japan is reminded it must remain vigilant against the rise of imperialism. But China's complaints are empty, coming from the world's worst communist dictatorship, with a long history of death and destruction, and denial of even the most basic human rights, even against its own people.
When a group of thousands of "protesters" take to the streets of Shanghai to protest against Japan, I see thousands of hired thugs demonstrating as a means of taking the spotlight off China's brutal regime.
In fact, the louder China complains about Japan, the clearer the warning against becoming too close to China becomes. This could be you, if you allow China to blackmail you over the years. If you disappoint brutal communist dictators, they will stop at nothing to destroy you.
Unless the world wakes up to this very disturbing policy at the very heart of China's global plans, before too long, China's blackmail today will become tomorrow's rule of law.
Lee Long-hwa
United States
Labubu, an elf-like plush toy with pointy ears and nine serrated teeth, has become a global sensation, worn by celebrities including Rihanna and Dua Lipa. These dolls are sold out in stores from Singapore to London; a human-sized version recently fetched a whopping US$150,000 at an auction in Beijing. With all the social media buzz, it is worth asking if we are witnessing the rise of a new-age collectible, or whether Labubu is a mere fad destined to fade. Investors certainly want to know. Pop Mart International Group Ltd, the Chinese manufacturer behind this trendy toy, has rallied 178 percent
My youngest son attends a university in Taipei. Throughout the past two years, whenever I have brought him his luggage or picked him up for the end of a semester or the start of a break, I have stayed at a hotel near his campus. In doing so, I have noticed a strange phenomenon: The hotel’s TV contained an unusual number of Chinese channels, filled with accents that would make a person feel as if they are in China. It is quite exhausting. A few days ago, while staying in the hotel, I found that of the 50 available TV channels,
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
There is no such thing as a “silicon shield.” This trope has gained traction in the world of Taiwanese news, likely with the best intentions. Anything that breaks the China-controlled narrative that Taiwan is doomed to be conquered is welcome, but after observing its rise in recent months, I now believe that the “silicon shield” is a myth — one that is ultimately working against Taiwan. The basic silicon shield idea is that the world, particularly the US, would rush to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion because they do not want Beijing to seize the nation’s vital and unique chip industry. However,