War Between Japan and China?

On September 8, 1931, a staged incident at Mukden (now Shenyang) led to Japan’s takeover of Manchuria, a precursor to the Rape of Nanjing and World War Two.

On September 8, 2010, a Chinese boat captain  was seized by Japan near islands claimed by both China and Japan, but administered by Japan. Today, Japan threw in the towel and let him go. It was a big time loss of face for the land of the Rising Sun. There’s the potential for a lot of oil in the Yellow Sea, and the two countries are both going to claim those islands.

A Chinese friend of mine, yesterday offhandedly said he wouldn’t be surprised if sometime in the next few years there might be war between Japan and China.

Many Chinese think America has rebuilt Japan into a powerful military nation, but that’s really not true.

At the close of the war, Gen. Douglas MacArthur drew up a constitution for Japan that prohibited Japan from having a standing army. Ever since, America has rued that day.  Time after time we’ve wanted Japan to be a strong military nation, so we wouldn’t have to protect it.

So Japan has Self Defense Forces that number around 240,000 men. Chinese have about 3,000,000 in the People’s Liberation Army. Sun Yat Sen (Sun Zhong Shan) once said that the Chinese people are like sand that fell through his fingers.  That hasn’t been true since 1949.

  I can’t see 240,000 Self Defense Forces going up against 3 million, well trained, men. There is still a lot of anger in China toward the Japanese (Shinto shrine, anyone). As for worrying about Japan’s power, it is like our fearing the army of Paraguay.

There can be demonstrations against Japan across China when the Government allows it. There are reasons that remain for that anger.( One of my Japanese students told me the Rape of Nanjing and the fate of the comfort women were lies). But as for fear of the Japanese, they just might as well worry about the return of the Bai Gu Jing, the white bone demon in To The West.