China’s Minister of Defense Visits the U.S. to Build Common Ground but Japan Stands in the Way

This commentary was first posted on New America Media.

How will Japan’s recent policy shift to offensive weaponry affect the U.S.-China ongoing dialogue between their respective defense chiefs?

General Chang Wanquan’s visit to the US this week as minister of defense is the latest of a continuing series of exchanges between China and the U.S, aimed at building trust between the military of both countries. Both sides agree that sharing information and discussing issues of common interests will enhance understanding and cooperation.

Whether meeting on common grounds will lead to recognition and mutual respect for the differences still outstanding between the two counties remains unanswered. Moreover, aside from existing differences that have bedeviled the bilateral relations, a new development has come to the fore: Japan’s pronounced shift to militarism.

The newly elected Abe government, elected on a platform of nationalism, is threatening to revise Japan’s constitution and disavow the peace covenants that were inserted to remind the people of Japan of the atrocities committed by their military--hideous acts of inhumanity that repelled the people in Asia. At the end of WWII, Japan was to never again mount offensive military capabilities but limit to pacifist self-defense forces.

The Abe government picked August 6, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, to launch a new super destroyer, named “Izumo,” big enough to launch helicopters and, with a bit of modification, fighter planes. The deck was festooned with the war flag of the old imperial army and the helicopters were emblazoned with the number 731.

Much of the symbolism associated with this launch went over the heads of the American public but certainly had the desired affect by arousing the anger of the people in China.

Japan’s official position has always been to point to Hiroshima as a reminder to the Japanese people that they were victims of WWII and American aggression, contrary to the idea that Japan was the aggressor.

Unit 731 was the secret research station located in the outskirts of Harbin where live human beings were subject to injections of toxins such as bubonic plague and anthrax and then cut open while alive to monitor progress of the ravages of the diseases—all without administration of anesthesia. Use of anesthesia, the reasoning went, may distort the test results of the trial weapons of germ warfare.

The victims of these biological experiments were not just Chinese civilians but included American POWs captured from the Bataan death march in Philippines. In the waning days of the War, most of the biological testing camp was destroyed.

General Shiro Ishii, the commandant of Unit 731, secretly negotiated with the American occupation force to turn over the research data in exchange for escaping from prosecution for himself and his research team. The Americans accepted Ishii’s terms and thus the activities of Unit 731 were never exposed to the limelight of a military tribunal and prosecution.

Thanks to Ishii and America complicity, members of his research team died of natural causes and never felt the sting of having to explain their heinous activity and the disgrace of public condemnation; some even walked tall in their post-war careers as respected members of society.

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the war was just a bit too soon for Ishii. He was experimenting with the use of high altitude balloons to drop germ-laden bombs on the west coast of the U.S. Had he succeeded, America would surely not be so ready to forget Japan’s role in the war.

President Obama likes to tell despots that they are standing on the wrong side of history. In siding with Japan on any disputes Japan has with China, the U.S. is clearly on the wrong side and perhaps the blind side of history.

Hard to know if General Chang would have the opportunity to discuss with the Secretary Hagel of the significantly different attitude about Japan between China and the U.S. America has been quick to forgive Japan but China could not because Japan has yet to own up to their role in the war and make a heart felt apology and amends.

China and the U.S. were wartime allies when Japan was the mortal enemy. Japan should not now become an obstacle to China and the U.S. becoming partners to world peace.

First Chinese American Leaders

Thanks to historian and veteran China hand, Scott D. Seligman, we now know something of Chinese American leaders that lived in America as early as the middle of 19th century and the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.

The first notable leader who fought for the civil rights of Chinese in America was Wong Chin Foo. Wong came to the U.S. in 1867 at the age of 20 under the sponsorship of a well meaning American missionary who thought that after being properly educated, Wong would return to China to preach to the vast masses waiting to be converted.

Wong lasted one year at the university at Lewisburg, Pa, predecessor to today's Bucknell University. He didn't finish his studies but went back to China to marry and sired a son. He came back to the U.S. in 1873 alone leaving his family behind and became a U.S. citizen in 1874. For the next quarter of a century he lived in the U.S. and he was to exercise his rights of American citizenship to the max.

In a role reversal, he self appointed himself as China's first missionary to America to extoll values in Buddhism and Confucianism and to counter anti-Chinese prejudices and racial bias at every opportunity. He wrote and spoke tirelessly and was credited with the first to coin the term, Chinese American. He challenged anti-Chinese demagogue, Denis Kearney, to a public debate and he was judged the winner when they finally did meet in a public confrontation.

He said on behalf of the Chinese living in America, "As residents of the United States, we claim a common manhood with all other nationalities, and believe we should have that manhood recognized according to the principles of common humanity and American freedom." Not bad for someone whose English was a second language without the advantage of proper schooling.

The next set of Chinese American leaders as told by Seligman was a group of four that organized a fundraiser for the benefit of victims of pogrom in Kishinev, then a part of Russian empire. The benefit was a play held in the Chinese Theater in Chinatown in May of 1903. There were three performances in order to satisfy the demand. New York Times reported that this must be the first event of this kind ever in the world.

The leaders, all ethnic Chinese, were Joseph Singleton, Guy Maine, Dek Foon and Jue Chue. All four were prominent in the Chinese community, spoke fluent English and well known to the New York society at large. Two of them saw the advantage of adopting Anglicized names and three had Caucasian wives. They were pillars of society and saw their future staked to the American soil.

They have been battling against the Chinese Exclusion Acts and the bias against the Chinese ability to immigrate the America. They have been reaching out to the American society at large and in holding the fundraiser, they were aligning with the Jewish community and indirectly protesting the injustices being suffered by the Chinese in America.

These stories go to show that contrary to the image of docile, well behaved Chinese in America, we always had activists willing to challenge injustices and intolerable status quo.  These individuals deserved to be honored and remembered.
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I had known Scott as a highly regarded China business consultant, the July 2013 issue of Chinese American Forum reintroduced him to me as a historian wherein he wrote about Chinese fundraiser for the Jews of Kishinev.

American Cover Up of Japan's WWII Atrocities by Unit 731

Those accused of committing war crimes in World War II were tried in Nuremberg and Tokyo. Sometime after the conclusion of those war crime trials, in December 1949, 12 Japanese physicians and military officers were tried for their crimes against humanity. The trial was held in Khabarovsk, Russia and the testimony described acts of horror and brutality beyond imagination. Americans are unaware of these crimes because General Douglas MacArthur, at the time in charge of occupation of Japan, suppressed the findings.

I was recently reminded of this part of WWII history when I came across an 8-page article published on June 5, 2001 in The Japan Times about the trial of Unit 731. This biological research unit was established in Harbin by Japan's military hidden behind a wall and a veil of secrecy. No outsiders knew what was going inside the camp. 

Most of the information in this blog is derived from the article in Japan Times, generally recognized as the equivalent New York Times of Japan. The following passages taken verbatim from the article give some "color" to the accusation of war crimes:

The crowds (at the trial) heard about doctors who subjected their victims--termed "logs"--to all kinds of experiments: injection with animals' blood, exposure to syphilis, hanging upside down until death, surgical removal of their stomachs with the esophagus then attached to the intestines, amputation of arms and reattachment on the opposite side. Some 10,000 people were reported to have died in Japan's 26 known killing laboratories in China, Japan and other occupied countries.

Unit 731's physicians, preparing to fight in the Soviet Union or Alaska, would experiment on victims in the bitter Harbin weather, where winter temperatures can fall into the minus 40s Celsius. Guards would strip a victim, tie him to a post outdoors and freeze his arm to the elbow by dousing him with water, researchers say. Once the lower limb was frozen solid, doctors would test their frostbite treatment, then amputate the damaged part of the arm. The the guards would repeat the process on the victim's upper arm to the shoulder. Another test, another amputation. After the victim's arms were gone, the doctors moved on to the legs.

When the prisoner was reduced to a head and torso, orderlies would lug him elsewhere in the compound and use him for experiments involving bubonic plague or other pathogens. Virtually no one survived. Unit 731 found a ready supply of human guinea pigs: members of resistance movements, children who strayed too closed to the outer perimeter, a teenage girl found carrying a pistol, Mongolians, Koreans, Russians. Any non-Japanese, really, was a potential victim.

While Soviet officials deliberated on what to do with them (after the war), Gen. Douglas MacArthur secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731 in exchange for providing America with their research on biological weapons. Presented with evidence that downed US airmen had been victims of grotesque experiments, MacArthur suppressed the information.

MacArthur's action outraged Stalin and he ordered a trial of Unit 731 doctors then in Russian hands. The trial ended in 5 days and the accused were found guilty and sent to prison, none were executed. In 1956, except for one that committed suicide behind bars, rest were quietly sent back to Japan and released. Lt.-Col. Naito Ryoichi, one of the military doctors, founded Japan Blood Bank that later became Green Cross. General Ishii Shiro, leader of Unit 731, was never caught and tried; he died of throat cancer in his own bed in 1959.

As the Japan Times article pointed out, the Khabarovsk trial casts light on a wound that still festers in Asian international relations. Anger at Japan runs deep in both Koreas, China, the Philippines and other nations occupied in World War II to whom Japan has never paid reparations or issued a satisfactory apology.

The trial revealed that the Japanese military was planning to attack San Diego with kamikaze piloted planes loaded with fleas infected with bubonic plague. Hiroshima and Nagasaki intervened and the plan was never carried out. Had it been otherwise, American might think differently about the pains of WWII.

The US must stay out of East China Sea Dispute

Further to my blog at the end of last month, Ignatius Ding, a noted Silicon Valley activist, has elaborated on the historical and legal perspective of the dispute between China and Japan, worth reading by all concerned Americans. This has been posted in the San Jose Mercury News.

Zatoichi's legacy is beautiful

When I was more or less a young man, I was introduced to the Japanese screen character, Zatoichi. The basic premise of Zatoichi films was that though blind, he could see right and wrong with faster clarity than the sighted; with heightened sense of hearing, he ably compensated for not seeing as he cut down his opponents in massive scale; and, with his bow legged gait and plain face, he was decidedly unheroic.

On a recent flight to Asia, I was surfing through the menu of films selections when "Ichi" caught my attention. The film began with a woman in rags stumbling alone in a blinding snowstorm. It was not immediately apparent that she was connected to Zatoichi.

As the story unfolded, the woman turned out to be a beautiful blind young girl who had been kicked out of the “goze” troupe. In medival Japan, goze troupes went around northern Japan entertaining gatherings with their singing and while strumming the shamisen. In flash backs, it was revealed that the manager of the troupe who was male and not blind had raped her. When he tried again, she accidentally killed him with her sword sheathed in her cane.

The movie actually started with her wandering in the countryside and ended up in a temple. One of three members of gangsters had sex with another blind goze woman and did not pay as promised. When she protested, they beat her and then they saw Ichi and started to harass her with obviously evil intentions. This is when a young good looking samurai came along and offered money to the gangsters in exchange for leaving Ichi alone.

Make long story short, the young samurai, Toma, had a psychological block and cannot pull out his sword from the scabbard and Ichi had to killed the three gangsters herself. The villagers thought it was Toma who killed the gangsters that had been terrorizing them. The rest of the gang of bandits too thought it was Toma who killed their comrades.

Ichi has been searching for a blind masseur (the film implied that this was Zatoichi but never said so) who raised her and taught her how to fight. She wanted to know if he was her father. Banki, the gangster leader, before defeating her and taking her prisoner told her that the blind masseur was the one person he wanted to meet who had died of natural causes.

Toma who was hired by the village to defend them was a colossal disappointment because he never could pull his sword from the scabbard. Banki was rejected by society because of his severely disfigured face. Everybody suffered from psychological problems.

There was a final bloody, sword-play confrontation between the villagers led by Toma and Banki and his gang. Of course, having fallen in love for Ichi, Toma was finally able to unsheathe his sword but the climatic ending is typically Japanese and not western.

The cinematography was exquisite and the story line more complex than the old Zatoichi stories. I hope we will see more of Ichi in the future.

Her Mother Remembers Iris Chang

Ms. Ying-Ying Chang has written a book (The Woman Who Could Not Forget) about her daughter and gifted author, the late Iris Chang, and about their mother-daughter relationship. Iris was at the top of her game as an amazing writer of history and non-fiction when she shocked the world by taking her own life. Many speculated about the cause of her death. Her mother was driven to write this book to set the record straight and preserve the memory of her daughter.

I got to know Iris when she became a member of The Committee of 100 after the publication of her worldwide bestseller, The Rape of Nanking. I found her to be passionate about the subjects she wrote about and highly intelligent in how she saw the world. As her mother described in her book, Iris was outraged by injustices in any form and was particularly sensitive to the rights and equality of women.

I was among the minority that did not read her book on the Rape of Nanking. In my case, I simply could not bear the thought of again reading the graphic descriptions of Japanese atrocities already known to me and becoming enraged once again by Japan’s refusal to apologize for the crimes against humanity that they committed in WWII. From Ying-Ying’s book, I came to appreciate that Iris identified herself with the heroic action of Minnie Vautrin in protecting the lives of Chinese civilians--eventually at the cost of her own life. I had read about Minnie Vautrin before I met Iris.

When Iris decided to write the history of Chinese immigrants in America, I was delighted. It was a subject dear to my heart whose scope and complexity needed someone of Iris’ skills and dedication to do it justice. When the book came out, I read it promptly and wrote a review on my own volition. Iris contacted me and asked for permission to use a portion of my review as part of the blurb on the cover of the paperback edition. Naturally, I was flattered that she thought enough to want to include it.

I also organized a book signing for Iris at Ming’s, a restaurant in Palo Alto. Many came to hear her and talk to her. I recalled a set of parents originally from China that brought their young daughter and had photos taken of their daughter beaming with pride standing next to Iris. At the time, I remember thinking to myself that although Iris said all the right things and was gracious toward her audience, she seemed a little stiff and awkward. Upon reading Ying-Ying’s book, I now understand that Iris had suffered the stresses of a frenetic book tour and was beginning to experience the strains of her illness.

The news of her suicide surprised and shocked us all and was beyond any comprehension. I got to know Iris’ parents after her death as a member of the team working to preserve her memory by staging a worldwide annual essay contests on war crimes and atrocities. During the three years that the essay contest was held, Ying-Ying spoke about her resentment of a series of specious speculations on the cause of Iris’ death. She eventually took time off to write a book that revealed the intimate details of a strong bond between a loving daughter and a devoted mother.

Ying-Ying made a strong case that lack of sleep and nutrition led to Iris’ initial mental illness. Improper psychiatric diagnosis led to prescriptions of antipsychotic medications that not only did not help her but the side effects actually pushed her into the abyss. Mental illness is considered shameful and difficult in the Chinese culture to admit and owned up to. It took a lot of mother’s love and courage to want to address Iris’ illness and document her tragic end as a warning for the benefit others.

If you want to understand how Iris became a hugely successful writer, read this book. If you want to learn about the uncertainties of current state of psychiatric medicine and the perils of antipsychotic treatment, you need to read this book. If you believe that successful daughters need not spring from Tiger Moms but from warm, loving and supportive parents, this is a book for you and an effective antidote to rampant Amy Chua-ism.

The Diaoyu Controversy Festers

Since the Chinese fishing trawler collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessel off the Diaoyu islands, the crew was detained, the captain arrested, China protested then tourism to Japan dried up and rare earth exports halted and finally the captain was released without charges. However, the bilateral tension and dispute continues today.

A recently released video clip taken from the coast guard ship strongly suggested that the ship swerved in front of the trawler in an attempt to stop the forward motion of the fishing boat. Since two objects cannot occupy the same space, the collision became inevitable. Claiming that Chinese trawler deliberately rammed the coast guard vessels seemed a bit of a stretch.

A more enlightened summary of the incident and dispute has been written by Professor Jerome Cohen in the Council of Foreign Affairs. It is recommended reading for those interested in the history behind the dispute.

Don't Miss this Documentary on WWII History, Part 2

Last month, China’s CCTV presented a fascinating 12-part documentary series on a part of WWII not particularly well known in the West--namely, the Burma Theater. The presentation was in English, very factual and professionally done, absent of any propaganda. The program gave impartial rendering of the roles of Chiang Kai-shek, General Joe Stillwell, General Sun Liren and many others. In the second half of this series, the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers were graphically described.

Episode 6, Pincer Movement – In this episode, the Chinese troops from India entered Burma and mounted a large scale offensive and scored a major victory. They over ran Japanese division command headquarters, and the Japanese incurred heavy casualties, more than twice as many as the Chinese side. This is unprecedented up to now. Chinese success can be attributed to better trained and better equipped soldiers. Just as critical was American air support. American planes provide air cover, detailed maps of the terrain via recon flights and timely drops of arms and supplies.

Episode 7, Victory at Myitkyina – While the battle in episode 6 was going on, General Stillwell conceived of a brilliant surprise attack to capture a strategic airfield at Myitkyina. The capture of the airfield would enable the Allies to fly in troops to the front line of battle. The surprise attack was successful but unfortunately the commanding General Frank Merrill (of the famed Merrill Marauders) made a terrible decision not to press on and take the town while the Allies had overwhelming numerical advantage and thus allowed the Japanese to send in reinforcements. It then took the Chinese troops another two months at great cost in casualty to finally capture the town of Myitkyina. This victory at Myitkyina marked the beginning of the end of the Japanese in Burma.

Episode 8, Stalemate at Nujiang River – While previous two episodes described the successes of forces under Stillwell’s command, this episode talked about the stalemate in southwestern Yunnan where the Japanese forces held on to the west bank while the Chinese were in the east bank. This stalemate lasted for two years. During this time, the Japanese troops committed all forms of atrocities against the local people in their territory. Besides usual gang rape of women, random killing and bayoneting, a particularly gruesome practice was described. The soldiers would bend a tall bamboo sapling and tied the entrails from the rectum of the victim and then watched in great entertainment when the bamboo snapped back and dangled the victim by the stretched out intestines. These activities were a deliberate attempt to dehumanize the Japanese soldiers so that they could become unfeeling fighting machine. Each soldier were given two coupons per week that entitled them to the services of comfort woman. The comfort women, mostly from the local villages, did not even have time to eat but must eat while servicing their clients. After the Americans re-equipped the Chinese, FDR began to push for offensive against the Japanese across the river. CKS reluctantly agreed but by then, in April of 1944, the rainy season was upon them.

Episode 9, Battle of Gaoligong Shan – Commander of the Yunnan based Chinese troops was General Wei Lihuang. He devised a pincer surprise attack on the Japanese via a small mountainous road, not used in generations. Alas his plans fell into Japanese hands and they were dug in and prepared. A bitter hard fought battle ensued. The difference that turned the tide was the minority people of those mountains. They willingly fought alongside, provided food and supplies and as porters for the supplies. The Japanese had no local support and were cut off. Afterwards, the Chinese found plenty of evidence that the Japanese resorted to eating human flesh, smoked, boiled and dried. They even found evidence of Japanese soldiers trapped in pillboxes having to eat the flesh of their fallen comrades.

Episode 10, Battle of Songshan – Having encountered heavy resistance in Gaoligong, General Wei and his staff changed their plans and moved their troops southward to attack Songshan, the highest point that looks down the Yunnan Burma Road. Again their intelligence proved faulty and the Chinese encountered heavy resistance from far more troops than anticipated. It took three months of hard fighting and a casualty of 7000 to finally secure the top of Songshan and about 1000 Japanese dead.

Episode 11, Capture of Tengchong – Capture of Tengchong was crucial to the allied plans to re-open the Burma Road and join forces with the Chinese troops from India. The capture did not come easy. The walls of Tengchong could not be breeched by regular gun fire. It took American bomber planes many runs to create openings for the Chinese soldiers. The wall was built during the Ming dynasty made from volcanic rocks.

Episode 12, Battle of Longling – Concurrent with the battles of Songshan and Tengchong, another part of the Expeditionary Forces were dispatched to capture Longling. Longling sat at the junction of the Yunnan Burma Road and the road to India and its capture would mean the reopening of the lifeline to China. The battle took 4 months and three major offensives before the Japanese troops were pounded into submission and totally annihilated. The victory was complete when the forces then moved south to Burma and joined the Chinese forces from India. January 1945 marked the end of Japan’s influence in Southeast Asia. The Chinese sent forces into Burma in 1942 and again in 1945 at great cost suffering casualty of nearly 100,000. They could not have won without the air cover provided by the American Air Force and the heavy artillery supplied by the Americans.

It was one of the highlights of US-China bilateral colloboration in WWII.

Don't Miss this Documentary on WWII History, Part 1

This month, China’s CCTV presented a fascinating 12-part documentary series on a part of WWII not particularly well known in the West--namely, the Burma Theater. The presentation was in English, very factual and professionally done, absent of any propaganda. The program gave impartial rendering of the roles of Chiang Kai-shek, General Joe Stillwell, General Sun Liren and many others. The one nation that did not come out very well was UK. They were portrayed as arrogant, treacherous and had no stomach for battle.

Episode 1, Arduous expedition – By 1941, the Burma Road was the only lifeline to the outside world remaining for China. CKS recognized the strategic importance and sent an expeditionary troops of 100,000 to fight alongside the British. Undermanned and underequipped, the troops fought the Japanese to a standstill for 12 days at Toungoo until the Brits unilaterally withdrew, thus exposing the flanks to the Japanese and leaving the Chinese surrounded and cut-off. The Chinese under the command of Dai Anlan managed an orderly withdraw with a casualty of under 2000 compared to 5000 of the Japanese. The Japanese occupied an empty town and the Japanese general ordered the burial of all the Chinese dead with honors for their bravery.

Episode 2, Rescuing the Brits – The Brits plus the Chinese soldiers had the Japanese outnumbered, but the Brits ran until they were trapped by a pincer movement and it remained for the Chinese to come to their rescue again. About 800 of Sun Liren’s crack troops rescued the 7000 British troops, dying because of lack of drinking water. For this act of bravery, General Sun was awarded the medal of the highest honor by the British government. The actual general in command was Liu Fangwu who was to go unrecognized until much later when Margaret Thatcher visited the U.S. and personally thanked him. Despite this rescue, The Brits still had their own agenda which was not to defend Burma. They withdrew towards India without telling the Chinese and blew the Mandalay Bridge behind them and thus cut off the Chinese retreat back to China. The Chinese was to pay dearly when the Japanese used stealth to go behind the Chinese and cut off their retreat to China.

Episode 3, Ordeal on Savage Mountain – While the Brits withdrew to India, CKS did not want the Chinese to follow suit for fear of losing the command to the Brits. Du Yuming obeyed and order his command to retreat northward across primordial forest called Savage Mountain (野人山) where most his troops were decimated by disease and starvation. A fallen soldier was nearly instantly turned into skeletons by leeches, ants and others that crawl in the jungles. The 200th Division commanded by Dai fought rear guard action and were the last to leave. Dai was wounded and died and his body was carried all the way back to China by his followers. Sun Liren did not heed Du’s orders, reasoning the primordial forest was deadly to his troops. Instead his troops marched southward, caught the Japanese by surprise and broke through and then headed westward into India. The Brit commanding general ordered Sun’s troops to stand down and disarm at the border. Sun threaten to fight into India. Just in time, the general of the Brit troops rescued in Burma rushed to see the commanding general to tell him that his British troops were no match for Sun’s and it was no way to pay back for the heroic rescue. Of the 100,000 Chinese troops sent into Burma, only about 30,000 survived.

Episode 4, Recuperating in India – Sun’s 38th Division virtually intact became the core fighting force resting in Ramgarh. The remnants of 22nd Division that straggled out of Savage Mountain joined. General Stillwell finally had an opportunity to build a fighting force directly under his command and he equipped and trained the two divisions with the best weaponry possible. Sun also asked CKS to send him new recruits to fill the ranks of his army and CKS responded by sending patriotic students as recruits. The British was responsible for provisioning the troops. For the first time, the Chinese soldiers had two sets of boots, two underwear, two pairs of thick socks and two pairs of thin socks, etc. Sun with the help of American trainers taught his troops not only how to fight, but how to swim with pack, to climb mountain and walk in jungles. He was getting the two divisions ready to engage the Japanese with trained and toughened soldiers better equipped to fight than the Japanese. The American objective in Burma was to tied down the Japanese troops, the Chinese to keep the lifeline open while the Brits had interest in Burma only to the extent it would keep the Japanese from invading India.

Episode 5, Counter attack begins – Finally the counter attack by the Chinese troops from India to northern Burma began in this episode. The Chinese soldiers were entirely different from those that fought earlier when they along with the Brits were defeated by the Japanese and had to retreat to India. These were physically fit, well trained and well equipped. This was the beginning of the turning of the tide. They were to face the crack Japanese troops that fought in Shanghai, participated in the Nanking massacre and occupied Singapore despite greatly outnumbered by the British troops stationed there, troops that had no stomach for fighting. At the Cairo Conference CKS thought he got Churchill's agreement to commit the British troops to the joint counter attack. Few days later, Churchill reneged and decided not to join in the battle.

The Uyghurs and China

Mr. Kasim Tuman, Council Member, Uyghur Association of America was one of the speakers at a seminar on "Ethnicity and Identity in Xinjiang" held at Stanford. My wife and I have been to Xinjiang, in particular to Kashgar where Mr. Tuman came from, and naturally we were interested in what he had to say.

I was struck by some of Mr. Tuman's statements. Since the forum did not offer an opportunity for a real dialogue and discussion, I thought I would offer some counterpoints and observations in response to what I heard.

Tuman said: The Uyghurs are not interested in mixing with the Chinese for fear of losing their cultural identity. They fear being assimilated by the Chinese culture.

My response would have been: Cultures are not static but dynamic and are subject to influences and stimulus especially from other neighboring cultures. Cultures that do not evolve and remain static become endangered and face extinction with time. The Xianbeis, one of many forefathers of the Uyghurs, used to rule northern China, known in Chinese history as the Northern Wei dynasty. They admired the Han Chinese culture so much that they adopted Chinese customs, language and many social and political practices. Indeed the Xianbeis did get assimilated and their own culture became lost to history. But I do not see anything unnatural about this outcome. If people no longer accept or willing to adopt certain cultural values and practices, that culture will fade away.

Cultures can also disappear on the point of the sword. Genghis Khan so thoroughly decimated the Tangut kingdom (Xixia in Chinese), another contributor to the Uyghur gene pool, that there is no trace of the Tangut culture remain. The meaning of their writing is lost as is their historical records. The propagation of Islam was also accomplished by military conquest as the religion spread from the Middle East westward to Spain and eastward to the Indonesian archipelago imposing the Islamic religion on the local people and replacing the previous ways of worship.

But use of force has not been how the Chinese culture has proliferated. Non-Chinese people adopted certain aspects of the Chinese culture that they found more appealing than their own. One can see evidence of the influence of Chinese culture in South Asia, Southeast Asia as well as Korea and Japan. These people were not forced to adopt Chinese manners and practices; they willingly did so.

In an attempt to distinguish the Chinese culture from the Uyghur, Mr. Tuman said that it is very much in the Chinese culture for the young people to study hard and strive to attend the best school and best university and to work hard and make a lot of money. This is not part of the Uyghur culture, he said, as the Uyghurs like to take life as it comes. He used a map from Wikipedia as a platform for his talk. I noticed from the same Wiki article, one of the characteristics attributed ancestors of Uyghurs was "they showed greed without restraint, for they often made their living by looting." Perhaps given that heritage, it is understandable why Mr. Tuman made that distinction between the Uyghur and the Chinese culture.

The map from Wikipedia showed a Uyghur Khaganate that at one moment in history spread from western part of today's Manchuria westward to nearly the Caspian Sea. Mr. Tuman seemed to imply that the Uyghur people has had a long continuous history since as early as 4th century AD. But a close reading of the Wiki article would reveal that there was no such continuity but the Uyghur state, when it existed at all, ebb and flowed with time. With mostly nomads as ancesters, it is understandable that continuity would have been difficult and any sort of ethnic purity and identity even more improbable.

On the one hand, Mr. Tumen assured the audience that the Uyghur culture is quite distinct and unique and no way related to the Chinese culture. On the other, he said that he has learned the value of cultural diversity since he came to the United States nine years ago. I believe China also recognized the value of diversity. Beijing government's policy is to allow the fifty plus ethnic minorities to teach their own language alongside putonghua in their schools and to enjoy certain levels of local autonomy in maintaining their daily lives and traditions. Of course, if the minority wish to succeed in a Chinese dominated economy, that person must also learn Chinese and understand how to operate in a Chinese society. This is no different from an ethnic minority living in America. That person can no more succeed in the U.S. if the person is unable or unwilling to communicate in English.

Mr. Tumen seemed to believe that in a democracy like the U.S., the Uyghur culture can thrive. Apparently he has not been in America long enough to understand what happened to the many different forms of native American cultures that have been obliterated by actual acts of genocide.

Mr. Tumen also stated that there are 20 million Uyghurs living outside China, implying that they were originally from China. This implication is most misleading. Uyghurs are not just native to the Xinjiang Automomous Region but also in nearby Central Asian countries. If there is a Uyghur diaspora of 20 million, somebody needs to clarify as to what portion have their roots in China and what portion from outside of China.

When we visited Xinjiang, we learned a little about the colorful Uyghur dress, beautifully crafted music instruments to accompany the Uyghur music and dance, Uyghur food and how Uyghur kids are raised. We were not there long enough to detect any racial tension or alienation. After visiting many parts of China with autonomous regions belonging to various enthinic minorities, we did get the impression that the Chinese government is trying hard to be a nation for all ethnicities. Go to here for further discussion of ethnic minorities in China.

Who is an Ethnic Chinese Anyway?

As David Henry Hwang tells it in his latest award winning play, Yellow Face, Hollywood has for years, up to today, freely portrayed Asians with Caucasian actors abetted by yellow make-up and perhaps artificially slanted eyes with or without buck teeth.

Some of the most accomplished actors and actresses had been cast in Asian roles as if such credits in their repertoire further burnish their credentials. Luminaries that underwent the Heath Ledger/Joker transformation of their days included Loretta Young, Katharine Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Marlon Brando, Alec Guinness, Linda Hunt and Leonard Nimoy.

The reverse has yet to happen in Hollywood, i.e., using an Asian actor to play a white character, whether in earnest or in caricature. Hwang’s point seems to be that in a Hollywood where all Asians look alike and any white can play the role, getting an Asian to play an Asian character is already a win against industry practice.

The one time I saw a quid pro quo, i.e., Asians portraying Caucasians, was a production of Mozart’s Figaro in Beijing. The Chinese actors and actresses did not disguise their blond wigs and big false noses. They also did not use pasty white make-up. Most productions in China, however, seem to be able find white actors to play white roles.

It used to be, ironically, that in China only the Han Chinese were considered “real” Chinese. All the other ethnic groups were generically lumped as fan, meaning that these people were less cultured perhaps even barbarians. In their own condescending way, the Chinese used to consider all foreigners as barbarians. When Lord McCartney, King George’s emissary, kneel before Emperor Qianlong instead of the customary kowtow, it was considered a magnanimous gesture by Qianlong.

Indeed there was some basis to justify such chauvinism. Throughout the centuries, China has often been invaded by nomadic tribes along its northern border, sometimes even totally occupied by non-Han nationalities. The Yuan dynasty founded by Mongols (13th century AD) and Qing dynasty by Manchus (17th century AD) were two examples in China’s relatively recent history.

Inevitably, the invaders took on Chinese customs, ceremony, beliefs and values. They inter-married with the local population and in a matter of few generations would lose their original ethnic identity and became Chinese.

In the 4th to 6th centuries AD, northern China was dominated by Xianbei people. One tribe even founded the northern Wei dynasty with its seat at Datong and ruled for nearly 200 years. Today there is plenty of physical evidence of their existence but there is nobody known as Xianbei anymore. The Xianbeis along with many other ethnic groups that came to China were assimilated and absorbed.

In addition to marauders that came to plunder, people from Persia, Central Asia, Middle East and beyond came to China to trade. Still others in neighboring countries such Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other parts of Asia came to study. Along with the historic ebb and flow of imperial China’s boundaries with Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and ethnic Miaos and Tibetans, it would be hard to conceive of a Chinese gene pool undisturbed by periodic infusions.

Today’s China has identified 56 separate ethnic groups living inside China with Han Chinese make up nearly 92%. The Beijing government has shed the historical biases and considers all of them equally as Chinese. Some policies are even tilted in favor of non-Han Chinese such as permission to have more than one child and assistance in access to education.

It doesn’t make any sense to me to make a distinction between Hans and other people of China. Unless the ethnic minorities are dressed in their colorful traditional native costumes, it would be a challenge, for the most part, to tell a Han apart from a non Han Chinese. Intuitively I believe there are as much genetic variation among the Hans as there are between the Hans and other ethnic minorities in China.

The Chinese civilization has been a long and enduring one. Its richness attracts many ethnic groups and nationalities. Its cultural values are so strong that China has repeatedly assimilated its invaders and conquerors. I believe this is a hidden strength not widely recognized. Namely, China has been able to continuously renew its vitality by absorbing the inflow of new people and new blood.

In this respect, China and America are very much alike. America has been a land of opportunity that has attracted many from all over the world and thus allows the American society to retain its vigor and continue its spirit of innovation.

Hwang’s play, it seems to me, is another expression celebrating the diversity in America.
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Yellow Face is currently being presented by TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley at the Mountain View Performing Arts Center through September 20. See an edited version of this preview in New America Media.

When did we know the Earth was not Flat?

While visiting Ephesus in Turkey, one of the great ports of the ancient Roman empire, I thought I experienced a personal ah-hah moment. I saw a statue of a triumphant Roman hero with one foot on a globe. The revelation that struck me was, hey, the Romans knew that the earth was round!

Later, I was to find out that the Greeks knew that the earth was round and passed the knowledge on to the Romans. Some guy named Eratosthenes even measured the circumference of the earth and came within less than 1% from today's measurement based on modern instrumentation. That was more than 2,200 years ago, when Eratosthenes was one of the leading scholars living in Alexandria.

Why then it was necessary for Galileo to rediscover this startling truth all over again? Because religion got in the way. More specifically, since the Catholic Church became the religion of the realm after Constantine became the Roman emperor.

The Church ruled by dogma, a concept that is antithetical to free thinking and open inquiry. It became blasphemy to speculate about the universe and whether the earth is at the center or not and whether the earth is flat or not.

Since no one relish being toasted at the stake, everybody went along with whatever the Church deemed as right was right. Darkness descended on earth in the middle ages. To some degree, that darkness remains to this day.

Chen Shui Bian's Next to Last Strategy

A classic in Chinese culture is the collection known as the 36 strategies. One of the 36 is the so-called battered flesh (苦肉计, 'kurouji') strategy. The famous example of this strategy can be found in the Romance of the Three Kingdom, in which the greatly outnumbered Wu forces needed to persuade the superior Wei forces to adopt a losing battle plan. They accomplished the goal by sending a pretend defector to the Wei camp. To make the defection look real, the Wu commander had the defector beaten in front of eye witnesses on some trumped up charges. When the defector arrived in the opposing camp, the Wei generals had already heard about his mistreatment at the hands of Wu commander and welcomed him into their confidence. Thus when he suggested a battle plan desired by the Wu camp, it was accepted without suspicion.

It appears that in Taiwan, Chen Shui Bian is heading toward a kurouji of his own. In his case, his wife, Mme Wu, is being set up to carry this off. To date, she has pled frail health as the reason she has turned down at least 17 summons to appear in court and testify on her own defense regarding the illicit transfer of funds to overseas bank accounts. According to Chen, the wheelchair bound Mme Wu has recently fainted more than once, whenever she faced the prospects of having to appear.

The Taiwan authorities are less than sympathetic and threatened to force her to appear. Chen claims that such a forced appearance would surely kill her and thus setting the stage for the ultimate kurouji. In order for her to avoid having to explain to the investigators how she was able to wire transfer more than USD 20 million to Swiss bank accounts without the knowledge of her husband, she may really have to kill herself, or have someone do it for her.

Committing suicide, real or otherwise, would solve a lot of problems for Chen. Her real role in the Chen family money laundering schemes would remain in the dark. Just as the fortuitous assasination attempt on his tummy on election eve worked to his advantage four years ago, a grief strickened Chen would win him public sympathy--again--and possibly take the pressure off the ongoing investigation.

If the kuruoji does not free Chen from the corruption charges, there is always the most preferred of the 36 strategies. That strategy (走为上计) would be for Chen to get the hell out of Taiwan under the cover of darkness.

What America Needs to Know About China - 1, Human Rights

When it comes to American perception of America's world standing, an attitude adjustment of major proportion is indicated. For years, Americans believed that they are not only the most humane people in the world but are the only ones that know and uphold the human rights standards for others to aspire.

The recent and ongoing response of the Chinese government and Chinese people to the Sichuan earthquake presents a clear challenge to the notion that only a democracy cares about the suffering of fellow human brings. Both the government and the people reacted spontaneously with compassion, with generosity, with courage and with concern for the long term well being of the survivors. China is no democracy.

The premier of China, the highest ranking chief operating official in the land, flew to the scene of disaster as soon as he heard of the devastating quake. He mobilize 100,000 PLA troops and personally supervised the rescue efforts. Despite the prompt response, there were private entrepreneurs that rushed to the scene even sooner with their equipment to began the rescue work.

Some cynics in the west condenscendingly attribute these action as Beijing's response to western pressure to do the right thing, suggesting that without the watchful eye of the western democracies, the Chinese would not have done so.

These are likely the same critics who have not criticized the moral turpitude surrounding Abu Graib and Guantanamo and whose holier than thou attitude renders them incapable of examining the vast difference betweeen the American response to Katrina and China's to the Sichuan quake.

The rest of the world realize that the United States have lost the moral high ground thanks to their conduct in Afghanistan and Iraq. Sadly, most of the Americans do not have a clue.

What America Needs to Know About China - Preamble

When it comes to American perception of America's world standing, an attitude adjustment of major proportion is indicated. To set the stage of this discussion, let's briefly review recent world history.

The world has been dominated by the western nations for at least the last 200 years; if one starts counting from when the Spaniards began to plunder and pillage the Americas, it would be over 400 years. But this world domination of the western values is about to end.

For the last 60 years or so, the United States reign as king of the hill. For most of the 60 years, the U.S. showed benign and even kindly leadership and thus won the admiration and even affection around the world.

But alas, when USSR toppled, in no small part because of the top heavy armament production, needed to keep up with the U.S., could not be supported by the skinny legs of civilian economy, the U.S. became the only superpower standing.

The timing was unfortunate for the U.S. as they elected a president who embraced the neoconservative voice and welcomed the lunatic fringe into the inner sanctum of the White House. The neoconpoops thought through their man in the White House, a man not known for intellectual curiosity, not known to appreciate contending opinions, not known for patience with complexity, the time had come for world domination.

The neoconpoops could not be more wrong. After the shock and awe came the surge, but no matter, the U.S. remained mired in Iraq, bleeding not just blood of young Americans but the federal treasury as well. American leaders seemed unable to find a way out of the Middle East debacle, nor the financial scandals, nor the tanking economy, nor finding ways for job creation, nor to stop the incredible shrinking dollar, nor...

In China, the American politicians have found a way out. Who says we have to solve any of our problems? Just blame everything on the Chinese.

The succeeding blogs will discuss each specific issue of contention such as human rights, Tibet, international relations, jobs, currency manipulaton, espionage, etc. Stayed tune for contrarian views on all of them, views and information that American voters need to have when politicians are spewing venom instead of solutions.

Memorial Day Rumination

Having just come back from a vacation in the Balkans, where reminders of the devastation of war remained everywhere, a reflection on Memorial Day of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country seemed particularly poignant.

In Dubrovnik, a stark white cross stood on top of the bluff that looked down at the medieval old town, a reminder of the times when missiles rained down on the World Heritage site and pinned its hapless denizens underground for months before world opinion intervened. Inside the old town, the first thing to greet visiting tourists was a brass map showing where the bombs and fragmentation grenades fell. From the city wall, one can easily distinguish the new red tile roofs from the ancient yellow and black tiles—and there were precious few of the latter.

Tourists go to Mostar in Bosnia/Herzegovina to see the strikingly beautiful arch bridge, originally built by the Turks and now rebuilt after the internal conflict between the Croat Catholic and the Moslem population that destroyed it. The park in the city center is now a converted cemetery because of those times. Even after more than 15 years, fresh flowers still cover the rows of graves of young Muslim men, born of different dates, even different decades, but died around the same month in 1993. Listless survivors can still be seen sitting around sidewalk stalls with resigned vacant stares, seemingly unable to stir from their personal daze.


From Dubrovnik, we drove north along the famed Dalmatian coast. North of Split, we wound through the countryside to see the aftereffects of some of the worst fighting that took place between Serbs and Croats, folks that used to live as neighbors. The Croatian villages have been largely rebuilt. The Serbian villages that could be just across the road have been abandoned. Farm houses with fallen roofs and blown out walls stood to remind visitors of the fighting that turned neighbors and friends into mortal enemies. Barbed wired fields, with warning signs that the land mines have not yet been cleared, served as grim reminders that the prospects of death and injury still awaited the unwary.
Even though Split is the second largest city in Croatia and boost of a world class tourist attraction in the palace Roman Emperor Diocletian built in the 4th century AD, the city has no decent tourist accommodations. How come? For seven long years, all the hotels were used to house refugees from the war until they could return to their homes to rebuild their lives. The city has yet to recover from that experience and funds needed to restore those facilities suitable for providing hospitality to the foreign visitor have not been forthcoming.

It has been more than a decade since the end of the war that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the reconstituted republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. People there don’t seem interested in talking about the past, to analyze the causes of conflict and to excoriate those responsible for the tragic bloodshed. There was no perceptible joy in having won the outcome. They seemed only interested in getting on with their lives and look to a future without strife.

As I observed what war did to Yugoslavia, I couldn’t help wonder how the people in Iraq will one day react when the conflict is finally ended and the last American soldier has left. Will the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds be able to live alongside again? Will they be able to rebuild or will they leave certain devastations to remain as reminders of the American incursion? Most important, will Iraqis remember and thank Americans for liberating them so that in future Memorial Days as we mourn for those that gave their lives in Iraq, we find consolation in the Iraqi gratitude?

I wonder but I am not hopeful.

Nanking, a Documentary Changing World Perception

Ted Leonsis’ documentary film, Nanking, was not among the recently announced list of nominees for Academy awards, but he and the film had already won appreciative reception from millions around the world. At least 20 million in China have already seen this film. In the U.S. favorable reception from first limited release has now encouraged more general release across the country.

He did this by presenting the history of the Japanese occupation of Nanking (now called Nanjing) in a particularly persuasive way on especially shocking crime against humanity that has been largely unknown outside of Asia.

Leonsis happened to read the obituary of Iris Chang and became curious about her best seller, “The Rape of Nanking.” The book led to his decision to tell the story on the silver screen.

In December 1937, Japanese Imperial forces laid siege and then occupied Nanking, at the time the capital of the Chinese republic. According to the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal conducted at the end of WWII, over the next six weeks of occupation, the troops slaughtered 200,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war and raped around 20,000 females from babies to elderly.

The film tells the story of atrocities from the eyes of a handful of Americans and Europeans that elected to stay in Nanking. They organized a safety zone to protect civilians fortunate enough to have reached them.

The film employed professional actors to narrate excerpts from the diaries and letters they left behind. These eyewitness accounts were intermixed with tearful interviews of actual Chinese survivors recalling the horror and pain along with detached recollections of elderly Japanese men that were once soldiers occupying Nanking.

Spliced between these oral histories were actual movies and stills taken by the organizers of the safety zone, a zone subsequently credited with saving some 250,000 lives. Fortunately, the priceless materials were smuggled out of China undetected by the Japanese soldiers.

Depiction of the more hideous acts of beheading, live burial and gang rape relied more on verbal descriptions than visual images, a barrage of which would have nauseated the audience. The overall effect proved to be such a moving experience that only a storefront mannequin could have remained dry eyed.

The widely acclaimed documentary has won many awards and received 4 star accolades from every major reviewer.

Most importantly, the film takes the Nanjing massacre debate out of the bilateral tug of war between the Chinese and the Japanese. Leonsis personally financed and initiated this project to tell this historical event from the third party’s vantage point.

The matter of fact treatment of the subject coming from white non-combatants will render the film hard for anyone to repudiate.

The documentary film was released in December 2007, just in time to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japan’s siege and occupation of Nanking. The renovated Nanjing Massacre Museum also reopened in the same month.

Museum officials at the reopening ceremony indicated that their goal is to raise the world awareness of the museum so as to be on par with Auschwitz, Hiroshima and other world heritage memorials reminding humankind of the brutal consequences of war.

The Nanjing Massacre Museum is built on one of the killing grounds used by the Japanese Imperial troops. Visitors can see open trenches exposing random stacks of human remains.

Multi-colored leis of paper-folded cranes have been left by visiting Japanese school children as tokens of regret and respect. The accumulated leis showed that some schools make regular sojourns to this site. One can conclude that not all the people of Japan are blind to history.

Some still living members of the imperial troops have publicly expressed remorse and guilt over their conduct in Nanjing. To do so took great courage as they immediately became targets of hate mail and death threats from Japan’s right wing extremists.

One Japanese filmmaker claiming that the Nanking Massacre never happened is planning to introduce his rebuttal on screen. It will be interesting to see what “truths” he will unearth.

Japan’s Consul General from Shanghai has already visited the reopened museum. He complained to Chinese officials that the exhibits were overwhelmingly one sided and he expressed concerns that the exhibits will inflame emotions and disrupt peaceful development of relations between the peoples of the two countries.

By all indications, the current government of Japan has foresworn its military, aggressor past and is a government of peaceful intentions. Unfortunately, the government is also hobbled by its inability to openly seek reconciliation with the world.

The Nanking documentary will make it that much harder to ignore the past but perhaps will convince the Tokyo government to finally face history squarely.

Only by knowing the lessons of history, can humankind avoid repeating the error.

America needs more Anson Burlingames

Anson Burlingame has a unique place in history. First he was an envoy from the U.S. to China. Then he became an envoy for China to America.

Periodic tension between Washington and Beijing suggests that we need more leaders like Anson Burlingame. He was a politician and Congressman from Massachusetts, whom President Abraham Lincoln appointed as his envoy to China in 1861. Burlingame was an excellent orator with a strong sense of right from wrong which showed in his highly visible anti-slavery stance.

Upon his arrival in China, he undertook side trips to various cities to get a better understanding of the country and although not a trained diplomat, he quickly became a leader of the diplomatic community in Beijing. He was outspoken in defense of the sovereignty of China and criticized foreign interference in China’s internal affairs. He became a trusted advisor to the Manchu imperial court and was befriended by Prince Kung, the power behind the throne.

He was interested in helping China modernize. To that end, he introduced an American geologist and also mining technology to help China develop her coal deposits. He was also in regular contact with another American then living in China, Frederick Townsend Ward. A soldier of fortune, Ward organized troops from Shanghai to fight the Tai Ping rebels. Ward’s battlefield successes led to his eventual appointment as a Chinese general by the imperial court. It was likely that Burlingame played an intermediary role. (click here)

When Burlingame was ready to return to the U.S., Prince Kung asked him to accept the appointment as High Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary representing the imperial court, in other words, to become an ambassador on behalf of China. He accepted and led a delegation from China to Washington D.C. where the historic Burlingame Treaty was signed on July 28, 1868. The gist of the treaty was to commit the U.S. to noninterference of China’s affairs and accord China the same peer stature and obligations as the western powers.

Burlingame then led the Chinese delegation to Europe where he was warmly received. He began treaty negotiations with Britain, France, Prussia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Russia. Tragically, he contracted pneumonia in St. Petersburg and died on February 23, 1870, after being ill for four days. He was not yet 50. Apparently, none of his other negotiations culminated in formal treaties except the one with the U.S. Ever since then, China has received a more even-handed and sometimes sympathetic treatment from the U.S. than from other western powers. Undoubtedly, this is a legacy of Burlingame’s unique role in history.

From knowing nothing about China to becoming a diplomat working on behalf China may seem remarkable, but China has this effect on many Americans that spend time in the country. While living in China, they come to appreciate Chinese culture, values and the daily lives of the people. Some come to love their experience and memories in China.

Henry Kissinger as Nixon’s secret envoy to China took a number of clandestine trips to Beijing to pave the way for Nixon’s historic meeting with Mao. In between meetings with Mao and Zhou Enlai, he was said to have spent many solitary hours visiting the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace. Since then, he has been a moderating influence on the U.S. side of the bilateral relations.

George H. Bush served as the minister in charge of the liaison office in Beijing before the normalization of diplomatic relations. After becoming President, his administration was marked by a lack of confrontation with Beijing.

Leonard Woodcock, appointed by Jimmy Carter, became the first ambassador to Beijing where mutual diplomatic recognition and normalization took place in January 1979. Subsequently, even in failing health, Woodcock was a vigorous advocate of China joining the WTO. Despite being the former leader of United Auto Workers, his position on China has been far more enlightened than his colleagues in organized labor.

As a matter of fact, virtually all of the ambassadors to China since Woodcock have become reasoned voices in favor of positive engagements and collaboration with China. There may be two possible exceptions. Winston Lord, who left Beijing just before the Tiananmen disturbance, saw that his vision to be the pivotal influence in turning China into a western style democracy was not to be. Now his acerbic comments about China seem to reflect his disenchantment.

James Lilley, Lord’s successor in Beijing, has also been less than empathetic with Beijing. In his case, his outlook may have been hardened by prior years of service in the CIA and a stint as Washington’s representative in Taiwan before rotating to Beijing. Probably, it did not help matters that he was the sitting ambassador having to deal with the fallout of the Tiananmen incident.

(While Donald Rumsfeld was still Secretary of Defense, Lilley spoke at a Pacific Council event in San Francisco. He overheard my conversation with a fellow attendee and was outraged when I described the neoconservatives in the Bush Administration as a bunch of “neoconpoops.” He was certainly clear where he stood on the Middle East conflict.)

Even a brief visit to China can open eyes if not the mind. Senator Chuck Schumer comes to mind. He had been a leading proponent of levying a 27.5% duty on goods made in China to penalize China for alleged currency manipulation. After a quick visit to Beijing, he actually toned down his rhetoric for a while, although the China effect wore off and he has rejoined the demonizing China camp.

Today, China can engage the world on her own and no longer needs a Burlingame to exercise diplomacy on their behalf. However, hostility rooted in ignorance and not understanding China still persists in Washington. In the interest of the public good, we should offer an annual “Burlingame” prize to the person who has contributed the most to promote mutual understanding between America and China.

Contest Serves as Memorial of World War II Atrocities in China

New America Media, News Report, George Koo, Posted: Oct 29, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Winners of the 2006 Iris Chang Memorial Essay Contest were announced in Washington DC on Sunday at the Biennial Conference of the Global Alliance for the Preserving the History of World War II in Asia.

First prize went to Hann-Shuin Yew of California for his essay, “The Rape of Nanking; A Quest for Peace.” Graeme A. Stacey of British Columbia earned second prize with Adeline Oka of Massachusetts placing third.

Honorable mentions were awarded to Heidi M. Bauer, Lani Cupchoy, Kristal Leonard, Niina Pollar, James L. Young, Natalie Beisner, Ed Dubois, Alissa Magorian, Alesia Sidliarevich, Loraine Yow, Juliane O. Bitek, Michael Dyer, Jillian McLaughlin, Jialan Wang, Andrew L. Chen, Teague B. Harvey, Matthew R. Mock, Becky Wood, Timothy Cooper, Sabrina Howell, Natasha Naik, and Lily Yan.

The organizers of the conference strive to remind the world that the atrocities in Asia must not be forgotten anymore than the Jewish Holocaust. To that end, the Alliance has, under the auspices of the Iris Chang Memorial Fund, sponsored the essay contest.

iris_changThe topic of this year’s essay contest is “How has Iris Chang’s book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II affected my life and thinking?” The Fund and the contest were established in memory of Iris Chang (1968-2004 who wrote The Rape of Nanking, about the slaughter, gang rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers in the former capital of China.

Close to 300 entries from around the world responded to the essay contest. Entries came from almost every state in the union and from 11 foreign countries and represented all age groups.

Many contestants are high school students. Nearly all of them are inspired by Chang. Because of her book, they now want to major in international relations or journalism and launch a career in finding truth and seeking justice anywhere in the world.

Some of the contestants described how the book resonated with traumatic experiences of their own.

Many of the young people’s essays drew the analogy between the forgotten Holocaust and atrocities of today. They pointed out that the world has also ignored Rwanda, Darfur and Iraq. Iraq is where American soldiers have been accused of rape and slaughter of civilians. The young commentators railed at humankind’s inability to learn from the past and impotence to alter the present.

Almost all the writers voiced that they hadn’t learned about the Asian role in World War II from their school’s history curriculum. Some of the writers felt they were betrayed by the American educational system. All essays were compelling personal stories showing the influence of Iris Chang’s book on their lives.

A young mother from Uganda, now studying in Canada, couldn’t fathom why atrocities and strife in Northern Uganda that she witnessed had been ignored by the world. From the book, she learned hers was not the only one the world ignored.

A Belarus journalism student drew a parallel with Iris Chang’s heroic effort to bring truth and justice to the victims of the Nanking Massacre and the author from her homeland who called the senseless war in Afghanistan to the attention of the people of Belarus.

A young American Jewish woman who grew up with an intimate knowledge of the Jewish Holocaust was appalled that nothing was ever taught about the Nanking Massacre. As if to make a personal atonement, she is now studying Chinese and living in China. She has made it her mission to preserve the memory of the Forgotten Holocaust along with the Jewish one.

An American student who loves Japan went there as an exchange student. She contrasted the portrayal of the Japanese as victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with, as her home Dad demonstrated, the absolute refusal to examine their country’s role as the World War II aggressor. She was shaken by Japan’s lack of remorse and total ignorance among her fellow students about the war crimes of their grandfathers.

Reading the Rape of Nanking helped a young Hawaiian American of mixed Chinese ancestry put into context her grandparents’ stories of the Japanese slaughter of 12,000 civilians on an island in southern China a few months after the Nanking massacre of 300,000. She decided to emulate Chang and write a book, Slaughter at San Zao.

The book also reminded a young man of Filipino ancestry of the horror of Japanese brutalities that accompanied the occupation of Philippines. Tales of unspeakable atrocities were witnessed by his grandparents. “Forgetting will only conceal the truth,” he avowed.

An African-American military officer emphasized that we must not become desensitized in the face of heinous acts against humanity. Only if we were willing to take a stand and speak out against brutality, could we hope to reverse the injustices

The first prize winner will be awarded a cash of $1,000, the second prize, $500 and the third prize, $250. A cash of $50 will be awarded to each of the honorable mentions.

A Full Apology Though Painful Benefits Japan in the Long Run

Recent opinion-editorials and analysis of the tension between China and Japan tend to trivialize the World War II atrocities committed by Japan’s Imperial army and attribute the root of tension to geopolitical power struggle between the two nations.

Overlooked by these western analysts are historical facts. They also fail to notice that anti-Japan protests are coming from all over Asia, not just China, and even among Asian American communities in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Imagine a serial rapist and mass murderer who suddenly became a model citizen, even a wealthy individual known for community service and philanthropy. Can any length of exemplary conduct expiate his past criminal behavior?

If the statue of limitations can never expire for individuals that committed capital crimes, then why are American commentators so willing to dismiss the World War II atrocities Japan committed? Is it because they fail to comprehend the intensity of Asian feelings on this forgotten Holocaust? Asians can not forget.

The Japanese troops slaughtered innocent civilians at random without provocation and with extreme cruelty. They used live civilians tied to posts and infants tossed in the air for bayonet practice. Officers held contests to see who can behead more prisoners with their Samurai swords.

Women in Nanjing China and elsewhere in Asia were gang-raped and then butchered. Rampaging soldiers derived sadistic jollies by slitting the bellies of pregnant women and extracting the fetuses. Women from occupied countries were forced into sexual slavery to satisfy the lust of the troops.

A Colonel Ishii ran Camp 731 near Harbin China to conduct biological experiments on prisoners that included injection of live bacteria, surgery without anesthetics, and breaking limbs after subjecting victims to extreme cold. Even though victims of Camp 731 experiments included American prisoners of war, Colonel Ishii was never tried for war crimes. The American authorities let him go in exchange for his amassed biological data.

Downed American flyers captured near Chichi Jima towards the end of the war were ritually executed and their livers barbequed and eaten by the troops defending the island. This was reported by Jim Bradley in his book, Flyboy.

These were not isolated acts of violence but results of a deliberate edict from the top and implemented on a massive scale.


The government of Japan has always been quick to point to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in portraying Japan as victim of the war. Their textbooks and official documents do not portray Japan as the aggressor and described none of the atrocities committed during the war, not even those acts photographed by their own troops as take-home souvenirs.

Perhaps not by design, but Japan instigated the latest flare-up in tension by approving another set of textbooks containing the same denial of events in WWII. At the same time, the government actively campaigned for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.

The reaction from the people of Asian ancestry is visceral. To say that the Beijing government is behind the protest or that this is mere manifestations of power play directed towards Tokyo is patently nonsense.

Since the conclusion of WWII and the adoption of the so called “peace” constitution, Japan has been a phenomenal economic success and a generous donor to the developing nations. They can indeed make a strong case for a permanent seat on the Security Council except for their unwillingness to apologize and make full restitution to their WWII victims. This is akin to the reformed criminal refusing to express regret for his past.

Every decade or so, one of Japan’s prime ministers would express remorse, the latest being Junichiro Koizumi while attending an international forum in Indonesia. But his “heartfelt apology” is not enough. It is not the same as an official act accompanied by a law that mandates the restitution of damages to victims and the introduction of the truth of Japan’s dark past into the textbooks. One has to wonder about his “heartfelt-ness,” when his foreign minister immediately proposes to examine China’s history textbooks for inaccuracies on their depiction of Japan and the war.

China supports Germany’s application for a permanent seat and Japan can learn from Germany’s example. Immediately after WWII, Germany apologized and paid billions in restitution. Germany made no attempt to deny the existence of the Holocaust against the Jews but incorporated that history into their curriculum.

Germany’s action leads to healing and forgiveness. Japan’s inaction leaves a festering wound. The world is reminded of Japan’s past whenever another leftover poison gas canister is uncovered in China, or when Japanese leader makes another visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, or the Ministry of Education approves another textbook with the cover up.

To earn the trust and even affection of their neighbors without reservations, the people of Japan must renounce their past. They can’t renounce their past if they don’t know what happened. By making a full admission of the misconduct of WWII along with full restitution, the government of Japan will finally earn the respect and honor a great nation deserves, a nation that can face the truth and not resort to cover up.