Four Enemies of Japan
In September, 1972, Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka met Chairman of Chinese Communist Party Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong) in Beijing.
The historic meeting led to normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. The key to the success of the meeting is China’s decision of abandoning demand against Japan for wartime reparations.
However, since the normalization, Japan has provided great economic assistance to China, which is said to reach 52 billion dollars in aggregate over 30 years.
(26 billion dollars paid or offered by the Japanese Government and another 26 billion dollars provided by private sectors of Japan, including loans and other forms of economic aids.)
These funds were used to build critical, social and economic infrastructures in China in 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s, which has never been taught in schools in China as historical facts, for some reasons.
The Japan’s aids allowed for construction, building up, or expansion of the Beijing capital airport, Wuhan airport, China’s national air control systems, the seaports of Qinhuangdao, Tsingtao, and other industrial areas, total 4,407Km rail roads, total 6.5 million KWh power stations, and so on.
These supports were continuously provided for China even during the height of the Cold War. This is a sheer difference between Japan’s relationships with China and the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union could not compete with the U.S. economy. But it might have been still able to control their own people, while threatening West Europe with their armaments, unless Soviet citizens realized that they were overwhelmed by Japanese economy. And, when the Soviet people found that China was economically boosted by Japan to the extent they could not stand, the Soviet Union lost support of its own people and collapsed like castles made of sand. The Cold War ended truly by this way.
It is the strong upward trend in China’s economy in late 1980’s that really put an end to Soviet Union’s inclination to continue the Cold War state.
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There is a report well known and taken as being true as to how the meeting between Kakuei Tanaka and Mao Tse-Tung went on in Beijing in 1972. They say that the two leaders had an amicable chat, being surrounded by their aids and colleagues including Chou Enlai and Masayoshi Ohira.
But, there is another version of reports. According to it, Mao Tse-Tung said to Kakuei Tanaka, “Japan has four enemies. First, America; second, Russia; third, EC (current EU); and fourth, China.” Having heard Mao’s argument, Kakuei Tanaka and other Japanese are said to have been glued to their seats in silence.
Mao Tse-Tung then reportedly suggested that China and Japan should be lined up alongside as alliance partners to cope with Japan’s three enemies.
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As we consider the report today, it seems that China had been then very anxious about its four enemies: Japan, Russia, EC, and America.
When the two leaders met, it was 27 years after the end of WWII and 23 years after the founding of People’s Republic of China, when the 21st century looked like an impossible future.
But, over centuries, there is something that never changes in Japan as well as in China, such as geographic dimensions.
Yet, most significantly, there was an age when the two countries had no enemies at all; then ancient, wise Chinese held admiration for a legendary island of virtue in the eastern sea.
Truly even in the age of the First (Qin) Emperor of China, Japan was known as a holy, enchanted land.
“EVERYHTING WITHERS, BUT THE WORDS OF GOD PREVAIL”