Thursday, March 22, 2007

China & Japan - Joint Study of History

posted on: 19 March 2007 by Channel News Asia
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/264926/1/.html

Scholars from Japan and China on Monday opened new talks to draft a joint study of their history, a frequent source of friction between the Asian powers, officials said. The talks come amid a regional uproar after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this month denied that Japan coerced thousands of Asian women into brothels during World War II.

The joint study group, gathering 10 historians from each country, will meet behind closed doors for two days and pay a courtesy call on Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, a foreign ministry statement said. The meeting follows the first talks held in December in Beijing. The latest meeting aims to set up the modalities for the study, the statement said. The joint history review was agreed to by Abe when he paid a fence-mending visit to China in September. The two countries have set a target date of publication of their joint study in 2008.

The review covers thousands of years of history, including periods of goodwill between the two civilisations. But the most bitterly disputed points involve Japan's 1931-1945 occupation of China, which remains a major cause of anger six decades afterwards. Beijing maintains 35 million Chinese were either killed or injured, most of them civilians, due to Japan's aggression, but the number is disputed by many Japanese historians. China has long charged that Japan has failed to atone for its wartime conduct, while Japan accuses China of ignoring the post-war period including Tokyo's economic support to Beijing in its history textbooks. Relations were badly strained under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, due to his annual visits to a shrine venerating Japanese war dead and war criminals alike.

Prime Minister Abe's visit to China during the last quarter of 2006, and Prime Minister Wen's visit to Japan during the 2nd quarter of 2007, labelled the "ice breaking visit" and "ice thawing visit" respectively by Prime Minister Wen are also note-worthy events that could help improve the ties between the two nations.

The closer the relationship between East Asian nations, - namely China, Japan, and Korea [there is ONE Korea, not two. Just as there is only ONE China, not two] - the greater the prospects for development and growth in Asia-Pacific (A-P). An A-P bloc would lower American influence in this region, along with improvements and cohesion with ASEAN, a real-working "Co-Prosperity-Region" in Asia with global economic giants could be materialized.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Guantanamo Bay: America's Contradiction




The American foreign policy in our post Cold War contemporary era has emphasized and stressed Human Rights as an important critera for all nation-states and governments.
- To violate Human Rights issues would be result in global condemnation. So when would this global condemnation be turned against the sole hegemon of our modern day era? [wait long long... (a Singaporean slang)]
- Are the Americans "declaring through their actions" that there is a limit to how much Human Rights could and should be given? [u tell me]
- Is the international arena so dependent upon American Benjamins (green bills), New York Stock Exchange, and American Idol that 'stepping up to the plate' would result in your national sovereignty being infringed with a massive military strike? [if u've got oil under ur lawn, watch out]

Singapore & Regional Animosity: media fiction or breathing fact?



In the recent months, and dating back as far as recent years, Singapore has both enjoyed and endured events after events of publicity, ranging from positive and progressive, to derogative and detrimental. From our “lack of neighborliness” as accused by some regional nations during the fiscal crisis of 1997/1998, to the purchasing of a telecommunications company, Singapore has been branded as a little red dot and nose-wax (for a lack of better translation). This does not undermine Singapore’s efforts in proving that we ARE capable of reaching out with a helping hand, from billion dollars loan during the same fiscal crisis mentioned above, to humanitarian aid during the 2005 Tsunami crisis. How do we distinguish ourselves as a regional economic leader without the baggage of being selfish and purely materialistic without morals? How do we change and rid the mentality of our regional neighbours of their negative sentiments they have in relation to our bilateral relationship?

As mentioned above, it is without doubt, that Singapore has enjoyed substantial economic and materialist gains in the past four decades, whether or not it should be credited to the ruling party, the Peoples Action Party (PAP), is a different issue altogether, despite my personal belief that their track-record has proven their claim for mandate, and has also serve as their foundational support from earlier generations. How they would evolve for our generation remains to be seen. However, our gain, gain, gain and profit, profit, profit trajectory has caused a slow but eventual build up of envy, jealousy and animosity in the region. Despite our upward growth, our neighbours enjoyed a less dramatic rise, something that is constantly viewed as wrong, because of geopolitical issues, historical issues, and most importantly, racial roots issues. Branded as “Jews of the East”, the large majority of Chinese in Singapore has placed herself in a region where this fact is constantly used as an anti-Singaporean slogan. How could we correlate and coexist better with our neighbours without stirring up too much domestic disapproval in their nations? While constant diplomatic initiatives has helped in tremendous ways, and geopolitical constraints a sore thorn in the majority of nations in our contemporary world, the lack of ability to unite like Europe has in recent years hindered both Singapore and her neighbours growth and development. While Europe has gone through centuries of warfare and diplomacy to attain their current non-perfected system of the European Union (EU), South East Asia has yet to reach that level, primarily due to the fact that our region experienced a colonial era (except Thailand), and that our independence were all gained thru various contrasting stages. With this issue considered, one of Singapore’s avenues for regional harmony lies in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). While the recent summit in Cebu, Philippines, has proved to be successful, there are still issues pertaining to security, equality in growth, and nations’ behaviour and unilateral decisions that would hinder cohesion.

There would never be a concrete one-off solution that could help regional harmony, and because of this undeniable and empirical fact, Singapore would basically have to maintain a high level of interaction and communication with her neighbours. Through diplomatic exchanges, military exercises, educational exchanges, and also trade agreements, Singapore could tap into transparent-communications as a form of anti-suspicion and cohesion building factor. While this may not be the most viable of ideas, (had it been, it would already have been thoroughly thought-out and implemented, without the need for a university student like me to talk about it,) it could serve as a stepping stone for future positive development.

Singaporeans must also remember one thing, that all of us who travel abroad, either on vacation purposes, work purposes or diplomatic purposes are ambassadors for the nation in every single way. While the media may not necessarily follow us around like high-ranking-officials, the grassroots offer the base and foundation. To further elaborate on this, Singaporeans must remember that in most neighbouring nations, regardless of governmental systems and institutions, the domestic people have a say and influence in their political arena, either thru People’s Power (like in the Philippines), or slightly more democratic styles like in Malaysia and Indonesia. Thus if we portray ourselves, from a grassroots perspective, as a certain type of people, the grassroots in our neighbouring nations would vote/choose a political party or personal(s) that would react in either a positive or negative way toward their dealings with Singapore.
Historically, we suffer less animosity compared to colonial powers that have ruled our neighbours (ie: the Dutch, the British, the Japanese, the Americans, the French), however, recent developments in the past few decades has given rise to another form of animosity, one possibly filled with envy and jealousy.

In high spirits and optimism, we must remember that each and every one of us, represents Singapore in some way or another, and because of our resource-scarce fact, the human being serving as the national fuel is vitally crucial for success, peace and growth.