The East Asia Thread

[Glassfan]

China to reform controversial forced labour camps

BEIJING: China will reform its controversial system of forced labour camps this year, state media reported on Monday, which would mark a first step toward legal reform promised by new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping.

China's "re-education through labour" system, in place since 1957, empowers police to sentence petty criminals to up to four years' confinement without going through the courts, a system that critics say undermines the rule of law and is used against political activists.

China has 350 labour camps throughout the country, housing about 160,000 inmates, according to Xinhua, which cited the bureau of "re-education through labour" under the Ministry of Justice.

 

[Agent327]

S. Korea urges Japan to resolve wartime sex slavery

"Responding to Japan's renewed denial of forcing Korean women into sex slavery during World War II, South Korea once again urged Japan Thursday to seek "satisfactory" solutions for the victims.

"Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual slavery at front-line Japanese military brothels during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Moreover, former sex slaves, who are euphemistically called "comfort women," have long testified to the hardships they were forced to endure."

A notorious "leftover" from Japanese expansionism. I doubt this will ever be resolved. and certainly not in the foreseebale future.

 

[civ_king]

Japan PM Abe wants to back-track war apology

"...Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to replace a landmark 1995 apology for suffering caused in Asia during World War Two with an unspecified "forward-looking statement", a newspaper reported on Monday...

He has also said he wants to loosen the constraints of Japan's post-war pacifist constitution."

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/p/2013-01-05/152325960663.shtml

I would say this would anger the Chinese but I believe it is impossible for the Chinese to hate the Japanese more than they do now.
Changing Japan's pacifist disposition is a wise move though. Some kind of conflict with China is pretty likely over the next few decades if both maintain their present positions. They might as well be prepared for it psychologically and materially. Because the Chinese are.

Hail to the jingoist. In chief.

 

[PaganJulian]

Originally Posted by civ_king
Hail to the jingoist. In chief.

I don't think we can blame the Japanese for being terrified of a rising superpower on their doorstep which hates their guts and also happen to believe the Japanese to be administrating territory which was stolen from them.

Provoking China would be stupid, of course, but if they want to hang on to these small islands they better be prepared for the worst case scenario. Which means simply having a well prepared and well equipped military. I don't think there is anything morally wrong with that. They cannot surely put all their hopes on the US to protect them if something does go wrong.

And there is a chance, hopefully not a large chance but a chance none-the-less that something will indeed go wrong. People in the west underestimate the powder keg that is East Asia. During my time in China most of the criticism of the government I have heard has mostly come from a nationalistic viewpoint. The majority of people are surprisingly open and frank in their view that the Government is too weak and cowardly to stand up to 'bullying foreigners'.
If the Communist party, for some reason, started to lose the support of the people what better way to get support back than to become more aggressive over Diaoyu Island? A move like this would be overwhelmingly popular and would probably unite the nation under Party and Government.

This is just one scenario of course. There are dozens of other ways a conflict could start when military ships and aircraft of two nations come close to each other in a disputed area like the Diaoyu Islands chain.

One thing that has kept the situation calmer than possible is that the communist leaders are essentially rational and sensible people but I don't believe the Japanese should bank on that continuing. Better to be prepared - as the US is. As the Russians are, as the British are, as the Indians are and as the French are.

 

[Glassfan]

Giant Monsters Feared!

 

[Takhisis]

S. Korea urges Japan to resolve wartime sex slavery

"Responding to Japan's renewed denial of forcing Korean women into sex slavery during World War II, South Korea once again urged Japan Thursday to seek "satisfactory" solutions for the victims.

"Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual slavery at front-line Japanese military brothels during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Moreover, former sex slaves, who are euphemistically called "comfort women," have long testified to the hardships they were forced to endure."

Japan loses its cool as South Korea heats up

"Last month, a nationwide survey of 3,000 people by the Cabinet office found that the percentage of Japanese who do not view South Korea on friendly terms rose to 59 percent, up by 23.7 points from 2011. The sharply negative shift appeared to reverse over a decade of warming relations between the two countries

"The shift in Japanese opinion largely reflects the abrasive policies of South Korea's soon-to-be ex-president Lee Myong-bak, who many feel has taken an unnecessarily confrontational position on claims over the disputed islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean), as well as pressing demands for an unequivocal apology over the wartime sex slaves issue."

It's pretty ridiculous that the Japanese government would refuse to acknowledge it and even claim that there exists no historical evidence. However, the 1965 treaty was followed by South Korea's agreement to demand no further compensation. Also, the compensation that they received failed to make its way to the victims of Japanese imperialism, as the Republic sought to appropriate it to areas deemed more important.

But what about the same women being captured by the Allied armies and beign used for prostitution? Do the Koreans complain about that?

 

[Glassfan]

But what about the same women being captured by the Allied armies and beign used for prostitution? Do the Koreans complain about that?

Would you mind expanding on that a bit.

 

[Glassfan]

Beijing adopts emergency measures for 'hazardous' pollution

This was among a series of emergency response measures adopted in Beijing Sunday when the city's Air Quality Index exceeded 500 micrograms, the highest level. Anything above this is regarded as "beyond index."

On Monday morning the U.S. Embassy in Beijing recorded "hazardous" levels of pollution, with a "Beyond Index" reading of 515 at 3:00 a.m. (2 p.m. Sunday) local time, last seen on Saturday when the air quality index, based on U.S. national air quality standards, hit as high as 755.

 

[Glassfan]

From the Japan Times;

Rewriting history is unwise

"The argument that the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 made Japan the victim and atoned for Japanese aggression ignores so many facts. Japanese were certainly victims, but they were victims of their own evil and misguided rulers.

"If the Japanese government as a whole had recognized, as former Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe did, in January 1945 that Japan could not win and had sued for peace, the air raids on Japanese cities, which killed so many Japanese citizens and nearly destroyed the country, might have been avoided.

"The argument that other countries have also committed war crimes and their leader have not been punished and tried is not a reason to try to overturn these verdicts. No one should condone war crimes, no matter who commits them or where they occur.

"Japanese ministers should be aware that going back on the Murayama apology not only would offend Japan's neighbors in Northeast Asia (China and Korea) but also would outrage opinion elsewhere in Asia where many people suffered under Japanese occupation. It would in addition arouse anti-Japanese sentiment in Western countries including Britain."

 

[Takhisis]

OK, I'm in love with this Japan Times.

 

[Midnight-Blue766]

Oceania is at war with Eurasia Eastasia.

Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia Eastasia.

 

[Antilogic]

Even if it is wise to prepare for a potential conflict (which I assume is PM Abe's thinking, as opposed to intentionally provoking a war), why does it make sense to retract an apology for prior atrocities committed? It seems like he's unnecessarily spitting in China's face while proposing rearmament.

Must have went to to the Netanyahu school of diplomacy.

 

[Glassfan]

Concerning Japanese Army "comfort women" in World War II;

Spoiler :

A large-scale forced transfer of Korean laborers to Japan was carried out after 1941. ...Korean women were also mobilized by the thousands and shipped off to the battlefronts as "comfort girls" for Japanese troops. Called Chosenpi (slang), they were a sexual outlet for the soldiers. The women were brought right to the front lines for fornication between combat operations, and apperently many were killed in the fighting.

The Pacific War: 1931-1945, A Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in World War II, by Saburo Ienaga, Iwanami Shoten Publishers, Tokyo ,1968. - pp. 158-59.


Since human rights were totally ignored withing Japan, it was not likely that they would be respected on the battlefield. Prostitutes were a case in point. Prostitution is by its very nature a violation of women's rights to a decent occupation and livelyhood. Prostitutes for the (Japanese) military, euphemistically called "comfort girls", were placed in double jeopardy. Large numbers were sent to front-line "comfort stations," to service the troops, including some who had been tricked or forced into the job. The soldiers queued up in long lines for their few minutes of "comfort"; the girls took them on one after another, probably never getting off their backs from one customer to the next. "Comfort girls" wounded in the fighting were apparently sometimes abandoned or shot to prevent capture. Many of the women were Korean, but Japanese prostitutes and ordinary girls were also induced or tricked into service at the front. - Saburo, pg. 184.



In 1938, after the Nanjing massacre, the Japanese forces adopted the general policy of setting up military brothels in various places and "recruiting" comfort women to staff them,... The word "recruit" is, of course, an official euphemism; in reality many women were forcibly pressed into prostitution. ...it appears from the available evidence that orders to recruit women for comfort house came from the headquarters of each dispatched army - that is, from the chiefs of staff of each army. Those orders would then have been conveyed to staff officers in various divisions and carried out by the Kempeitai (Army Military Police). The Kempeitai usually operated by forcing the elders of villages in the occupied territories to round up all the young women.

The comfort women were treated as "military supplies" (32.1 million condoms were also sent to units stationed outside Japan), but many relevant documents were either hidden or destroyed at the end of the war. Therefore it is impossible to know how many women were exploited; the best estimates range from 80,000 to 100,000. ...or 1 woman for every 35 soldiers. Eighty percent of these women are believed to have been Koreans. The following testemony by a former Korean comfort woman...

I was nearly killed several times during my time as a "comfort woman". There were some military men who were drunk and were brandishing swords at me while making demands for perverted sex. They drove their swords into the tatami, then demanded sex from me...

Hidden Horrors; Japanese War Crimes in World War II, by Yuki Tanaka, Otsuki Shoten publishers, 1993. pp. 92-99.

In contrast to prostitutes used by Allied soldiers;

Spoiler :

American forces landed and occupied Japan peacefully. The violence came later, however, in the assaults, robberies, and general mayhem committed by American troops against civilians. The Higashikuni cabinet succeeded the Suzuki cabinet on August 17 as a caretaker administration to carry out the surrender. The following day, Tanak Naraichi, director of the police bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, ordered all police chiefs to "establish sexual comfort facilities" for the occupation army. Brothel operators were summoned to the Metropolitan Police Bureau in Tokyo and provided with Y100 million in government funds. A special comfort association, known in English as the Recreation and Amusement Association (RAA), was established. Announcements appealed for "employees":

"Women of the New Japan, Comfort stations for the occupation forces are being established as one of the national emergency measures for the postwar period. Your positive cooperation is requested."

Japanese women were offered up as human sacrifices to the American GIs. The objective was to propitiate the victors with sex and save the "good women" from unwonted advances. In this way, the government of Japan "positively cooperated" with the Occupation. The authorities had thought nothing of violating human rights during the war; they lost the war but not that attitude. The only difference was that now they were pimping for the occupation army. War or peace, women were victimized by the state. - Saburo, pp. 236-27.


US forces occupied the bulk of Japan, but some areas such as Hiroshima were occupied by British Commonwealth occupation forces (BCOF) composed of Australian, New Zealand, and Indian soldiers under the command of British officers. These forces also participated in the rape of civilians. A Japanese prostitute made the following comment...

"The Australian soldiers were the worst. They dragged young women into their jeeps, took them to the mountain, and raped them. I heard their screaming for help nearly every night. A policeman from the Hiroshima police station came to me, and asked me to work as a prostitute for the Australians - he wanted me and other prostitutes to act as a sort of "firebreak," so that young women wouldn't get raped. We agreed to do this, and contributed greatly." -Tanaka, pg. 104

The Japanese government had discussed ways of dealing with the anticipated problem of mass rape by occupation forces in the week following surrender and before their arrival. On August 21, 1945, Prime Minister Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko called a meeting of several of his ministers to discuss the issue; This was dubbed the "comfort-women meeting." They decided to set up the Recreation and Amusement Association (RAA) for the occupation forces. A special government fund of (starting with) 30 million yen was allocated to the project, and the head of the Japanese police force was ordered to take all measures necessary to assist such an organization... Governors and police chiefs of all prefectures had been instructed to procure women from geisha houses, brothels, and nightclubs in sufficient numbers to staff a nationwide organization of brothels.

The RAA was disbanded on March 27, 1946 (after 7 months), primarily in order to halt the rapid spread of venereal disease, but also because it was contrary to the principles of the "new democracy" that General MacArthur was trying to establish in the Japanese polity. Of course, prostitution on a large scale continued but as a private business activity. - Tanaka, pg. 105.

In summation, the "Comfort women" war crime, consisting of mostly Korean women forced into prostitution, was conducted by the Japanese military. The post-war occupation military brothels, consisting largely of Japanese volunteers and professional prostitutes, were organized by the Japanese government and police.

 

[Glassfan]

"A Tibetan monk doused himself in petrol in a Kathmandu restaurant on Wednesday and set himself on fire, marking the 100th self-immolation bid in a wave of protests against Chinese rule since 2009."

 

[Glassfan]

Park Geun-hye becomes South Korea's first female president

 

[Glassfan]

South Koreans Must Keep Discussing Nuclear Armament

"Japan's appetite for nuclear weapons, in spite of its painful history of having been on the receiving end of atomic bombs, has been stoked by North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Even South Koreans are starting to wonder whether their country should acquire nuclear weapons. A Gallup survey announced last Wednesday showed 64 percent of the public supporting the acquisition of nuclear weapons, with only 28 percent against.

"South Koreans must have the courage to publicly discuss the prospect of the country acquiring nuclear weapons. This will give it the strength over the long term to suppress North Korea's and Japan's nuclear ambitions."

 

[civ_king]

South Koreans Must Keep Discussing Nuclear Armament

"Japan's appetite for nuclear weapons, in spite of its painful history of having been on the receiving end of atomic bombs, has been stoked by North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Even South Koreans are starting to wonder whether their country should acquire nuclear weapons. A Gallup survey announced last Wednesday showed 64 percent of the public supporting the acquisition of nuclear weapons, with only 28 percent against.

"South Koreans must have the courage to publicly discuss the prospect of the country acquiring nuclear weapons. This will give it the strength over the long term to suppress North Korea's and Japan's nuclear ambitions."

"in spite" doesn't make sense in this case because usage showed Japan just how powerful early ones are let alone modern ones.

The possibility of China having two nuclear neighbors is going to cause them to spend a lot more on weapons tech.

 

[bugwar]

The possibility of China having two nuclear neighbors is going to cause them to spend a lot more on weapons tech.

Only two neighbors? Don't Russia, India, and China's rabid toy poodle North Korea count????

 

[ace99]

And they technically share a border with Pakistan so them too.

But a nuclear Japan I think would be more of a direct psychological challenge and geo-political assault than a friendly Russia, erratic but friendly North Korea, friendly Pakistan and a distracted India.

 

[Glassfan]

The horrific cruelty of China's tiger farms revealed – where animals are turned into wine



"Huddled in filthy cages and starved to the extent their fur is hanging off their jutting bones, these once majestic creatures are mercilessly being killed to decorate the homes of the elite, while their bones are ground down to make “tonic” wines.

"As few as 3,500 tigers survive in the wild, yet more than 5,000 captive-bred tigers are held in sickening Chinese ‘farms’ and ‘zoos’.

"Now, pictures released by environmental campaigners shame China’s failed efforts to protect these endangered creatures."