Well Ron, first of all, it is "Nanjing", not "Nanking".
princeton.edu
But who really cares how it's spelled...
Second, young generations in Asia have forgotten things in the past
One question.. How old is the primary leadership of China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan?
Ponder that for awhile and you'll discover why I'm not confident that they are quite ready, just yet, to get over the atrocities of the recent past.
But more important to the equation is the willingness of the old guard leadership in all of these countries to relinquish fully the reins of power to the younger, more reform minded folks who don't bear all the negative baggage of history.
When I see an event where the population of China successfully defy the government's policy wishes along the lines of a US "Anti-Vietnam War" style protest, then I'll be confident that democracy is finaling taking hold in that country. Tianamen Square came very close to being that event before they ruthlessly crushed it.
Third, the Pacific War had more or less to do with the religious part of the expansionism.
Excuse me? Japan has been raping and pillaging China since 1937:
home1.pacific.net.sg
It was about outright imperialistic expansionism and compelling every other Asian nation to submit to the "Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere", a nice euphemism for the Japanese Empire. And given that the Emperor of Japan was considered divine by the Japanese, I guess you could claim that everything they did for him was for "religious" reasons.
It was related to border dispute and the protectionism against capitalism. But now, things are different.
Hmmm.... The Vietnamese protecting their borders against Chinese capitalists? Well, considering they call their country the "People's Republic", why should I be surprised you'd call them this??
However, that said, this writer for the Christian Science Monitor tells us that the Chinese attack upon Vietnam was for other reasons than "capitalism"... :0). An interesting read:
worldlymind.org
Shouldn't we really celebrate in July 4th?
Well, considering that Hong Kong would hardly resemble the economic hub that it does now had not the British owned it for 150 years, you shouldn't be complaining so much.
After all, just look what Mao Tse-Tung did for China... left them bankrupt and an economic backwater for decades until Deng finally opened up the country (just a bit, mind you) to western trade.
Just ponder how differently China would have developed under Chang Kai-Shek. Look how well Taiwan performed, after all.
Regards,
Ron |
