Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 01:43:00 WET

From: Chinese Community Forum, Issue 9646

LUO Ning 98

Like a lightening hit a forest in draught season, the Japanese provocation on Diaoyu Islands has ignited fire of protest from Chinese communities around the globe. In addition to the protest toward Japanese officials and embassies around the world, many have also appealed to the Chinese government to use military force to take the territory back.

Due to the establishment of the nuclear deterrence, no major power has engaged in a direct war with another major power since 1945. Though there are always regional military conflicts here and there, the world as a whole has enjoyed an uneasy peace for over half a century. With the demise of the Soviet Empire and exhausted Russian economy, the bipolar structure governing the world power relations for over 40 years collapsed, too. Japan, as the only non-nuclear nation among the five major powers (U.S, Russia, European Community, China and Japan), no doubt is in the process of converting its economic muscle into political and strategic assertiveness. Diaoyu Islands incident should not be viewed and dealt with as an isolated event.

How should China respond? Using military force should not be the first option. In fact, it is always the last resort. From mass protest to using military force there are many stages and many ways to deal with conflicts between major powers. How China can force Japan to back down without resorting to military confrontation is a test on the resourcefulness of not only Chinese government, but also China as a nation.

Of course, diplomatic channels should be explored. Diplomacy is never just bilateral exchanges. Just as other nations are closely watching how these two Asian giants are going to settle the conflict, China can also urge others to exert pressure on Japan and in turn observe their responses. Japan has been very eager to become a permanent member of the United Nations' Security Council. Its aggression on Diaoyu Islands certainly comes at the wrong time for its dream.

The large volume trade relationship between China and Japan, especially the huge trade surplus of Japan, is another powerful leverage that China can use. This is a golden opportunity for various levels of Chinese government offices to thoroughly review their dealings with Japanese companies.

Here even the ordinary citizens can do a lot of things. Last August Chinese TV reported a story about several young workers in a northern Chinese city protesting their Japanese employers for making a computer CD game glorifying Japan's war on China. I learned later that the production of the game was banned previously from a southern city due to its content, and the Japanese company later moved the production north, and this time it was not the local government but ordinary citizens who rose up to stop it. These young country fellows were willing to take the risk of losing their jobs in order to uphold the dignity of China. The action of these few people may be more effective than a thousand people shouting slogans on streets.

There have been many stories about some Japanese merchants bribing their way through Chinese bureaucracy in order to beat other competitors and get lucrative deals; about selling old machines as new by painting them like new ones; about withholding key technologies which are supposedly already bought by China, about sneaking thousands of cars, TV's and home appliances through coastal areas in order to avert custom, and many others. However, there has not been systematic investigations publicized about these allegations by either the government or the journalists, consumer protection groups, etc.. What if people start to write to the People's Deputies (renmin daibiao) of their home province in mass numbers, urging them to review these cases, to monitor the local government offices in their dealings with Japanese companies, and to publicize their findings so as to put all trade with Japan "under the sunshine"? The actions like this, in my opinion, will not only strike more effectively at Japan's "soft poin

t", but also help to clean up China's own problems.

When China was weak in the past, Japan and other powers' butcher knives were slicing China piece by piece away. Now when Chinese people thought these days were over, some Japanese militarists came and ruined the good feeling. The anger their provoked was probably not unexpected by them, was it one of their purposes? No matter what's their plan, we as Chinese should take the opportunity to reflect on ourselves. We should ask ourselves:

. Why Diaoyu Islands, not the "bei fang si dao (four islands of northern Japan, taken by Russians after WWII)"? Is it only because the strength or weakness of the government?

. Why the disputes about Diaoyu Islands, an unsolved issue for quarter of a century, were not much talked or even thought about by most Chinese until a few Japanese youths reminded us?

. We have been criticizing Japan for its attempt to smear history, yet how many Chinese youth know clearly the bloody history of China in the last one and half centuries? The true reason for the nations misery? And the way to make sure that would never happen again?

When questions like these are resolved one day, China will have much less chance to be cornered to use military force.

Luo Ning

On the 61st anniversary of Japanese invasion of China continent