We Should Be Clever Enough Not to Be Controlled by Our Governments But to Control Our Own Governments

Now the conflict between China and Japan about the Senkaku or the Diaoyu islands is escalating.

I basically think that the assertion of Japanese government is more logical and rational than one of Chinese government, but at the same time I also realize that territorial issues can't be solved by logic but power. It's much better for this kind of issues to be unsolved than to be solved by power, especially military forces.

Before the outbreak of Falklands War almost no one thought that U.K. and Argentina would really make war. We, both of Chinese and Japanese, MUST learn a lesson from Falklands War.

There are a lot of similarities between Falklands War and the conflict about the Senkaku islands. At that time U.K. fell into a long recession, so called "English disease", and Argentina was dominated by the autocratic regime. Both of the British and Argentine people were quite frustrated with their governments.

In the article "Beijing Mixes Messages Over Anti-Japan Protests" September 16, 2012 the New York Times pointed out, as follows.

The political analyst Li Weidong said the official tolerance fit a longstanding pattern of behavior in which the Chinese government uses mass protests to further its foreign policy goals. In a text message sent to friends and associates, Mr. Li compared the current protesters to the Boxers, a quasi-religious group that was used by the Qing dynasty to oppose foreign incursions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

"Beijing dares not to fight, but it’s unable to talk it over either," Mr. Li wrote. "So it has to employ Boxers, using product boycott to press Japan."

I don't completely agree with this article, but it is a usual practice of any government, not just Chinese government, to distract public attention from the frustration to the government by using foreign affairs. But sometimes the government loses control of their people. In fact Argentina government was forced to send its army to Falkland Islands.

At this time almost no one thinks that China and Japan will really fight each other about the Senkaku islands, but I'm afraid that it's possible.

We should be clever enough not to be controlled by our governments but to control our own governments.