Chinese Protests Again Japan
“It was their hypocrisy I abhorred. At least if they had come out openly and said: We loved Hitler, one might have weighed their humanity with their honesty and perhaps forgiven them.” (Fear of Flying, 61)
The ridiculous state of tension between Japan and China these days – the “protests” in China staged with tacit government approval, and angry Japanese diplomats responding with demands for apology – is a result of the adoption by the leaders on both sides of egos the sizes of the countries they represent. Chinese people have a strong will to do justice to history. China has been trampled upon by the Western powers, the Japanese, and its own Party leadership in the past century, but each event has been committed to record … an emotional and intensely patriotic record at times, admittedly, but these records remain for Chinese and non-Chinese alike to scrutinize. I understand the tremendous feeling of hatred directed at the Japanese to be rooted partly in scapegoating, but mostly in the impression of being wronged by a bully who, bewilderingly enough, is too cowardly to admit to his deeds.
The scene is of a burning, stinking pile of rubbish. The awful odors of roasted flesh are almost too much to bear; yet the Japanese cartoon stands by and calmly denies its existence. This act of denial is not only an incredible refutation of the obvious, but also very importantly is an insult to the Chinese figure I picture standing at the bottom of a pit, face sooty and sweaty, holding the spade with which he had to dig the mass of garbage out of historical oblivion. It is constant work because of the unending denial. Thus to the Chinese the Japanese not only affront history, but also attack each effort they make to restore the historical record to its unwhitewashed nature.
I don’t believe the Chinese are looking for reparations. At this point, they’re not even looking for an apology; they didn’t get that from the British (opium trade) or the Americans (bombed Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia). They just want an admission of prior actions. What the Japanese want – to the point of absurdity, it seems to me – is to avoid losing face, even if it means being dishonest. Would admitting to acts that could be deemed crimes, horrendous crimes against humanity, put Japan under the thumb of China evermore?
The fact is, if Japan ever hopes to hold a seat on the UN Security council, they will have to own up to some bad karma. I for one don’t think China will relish holding a grudge so much if the Japanese simply agree to a truthful retelling of the past. The best thing in it for the Japanese: instead of the entire population being incriminated and hated, for the Chinese government to have a basis to continue spreading not-so-subtle anti-Japanese propaganda in state-run media, those Japanese having nothing to do with the events more than 60 years ago will get the amnesty they’ve always deserved.