It pains me to pen this article. Much of the information you are going to read below is extracted from published sources. But I think it is important for me to bring it up again – basically to remind ourselves of the need not to be complacent about our future - if you are of Chinese descent. This call is made in the wake of the relentless efforts by the West and pro-West forces to demonize China and the collateral damage arising therefrom – on a future Chinese both inside and outside China, in particular, the ethnic Chinese in East and Southeast Asia, may have to live with.
I always argue that all of us are racist to
some extent. But the decent ones in us would contain our prejudices –
principally out of disagreements or unfamiliarity with the way people “not our
kind” seem to be acting or behaving under circumstances that we think they
should – to ourselves. We don’t go about throwing punches at them. Racists make
up stories to hurl accusations. Even if a fact is already known, they will
still twist and distort to make people whom they do not like look bad. China is
the West’s relentless target now. I do not suppose there is a need for me to cite examples,
since I have already done so many times before.
I have American, European, Australian, Japanese,
and Indian friends. On a one-to-one basis, I find friendships even with the
more off-colour ones tolerable. I still cherish my friendship with an old
Japanese man by the name of Rohyai Nonaka even though he had passed on many
years ago. Nonaka-san was an expert in electro-plating. He came in the mid-1970s to help the
Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) to do some development work
under the sponsorship of the Japanese External Trade Organisation (Jetro). He was already in his late 50s. I was a young desk officer in
MIDA then. At that time, there was a strong anti-Japanese sentiment, and nobody
would go near him. Somehow, we became friends, even though he was about thirty
years older than me. He would come to me each time an office circular was
handed down, for his command of English was too rudimentary for him to fully understand the message, and Malay totally nil. He
would share his Japanese-style management concepts and practices with me. From
him, I had an early understanding of what made Japan and Japanese different. (This was
well before several Japanese management books became the must-read stuff in business schools.) His hobby was
to go around the country looking for samurai swords. He knew a great deal about
Chinese history and classics, especially those parts on the Warring States and the
Three Kingdoms. He was also an expert in watercolour painting. (I still have
two paintings he did for me when he visited me at home). We became lifelong
friends and communicated even after he returned to Japan. My colleagues must
have thought I was crazy to be so friendly with an “enemy”!
Back to the subject. What I am seeing in the West and pro-West countries are disturbing – if history is our teacher. I would like to share what a da-jie (big sister-like friend) once said to me.
This da-jie’says even as third or fourth generation diasporas in a seemingly harmonious country like Malaysia, we cannot afford to be too complacent about our future. But she laments that her very successful corporate lawyer daughter would always tell her not to worry too much, saying that most of us are “on top of the food chain” here. Maybe, but I prefer to take my da-jie’s wisdom seriously.
It is not the people per se we are
worried about, no matter what colour his or her skin is, or what religion he or
she professes. It is the Western and pro-West POLITICIANS and their accessories
that I am most unhappy about. By accessories, I mean their journalists and
reporters.
But politicians are not born to be evil or untrustworthy.
They got sucked in over time. I read Barrack Obama’s own account of his earlier
years. He was not brought up in a political family. I could see that he just
wanted to do good even when young. In many ways he was to me a through-and-through
socialist. But the moment he entered the White House, he had to realign
himself. There were too many traditions or “must observe” conventions, systems,
and practices that he had to follow, let alone change. And largely because
of his inability to change the “institution”, he ended up as not having done
too many great things during his presidency, despite his formidable intellect. I
believe Joe Biden was also a decent man; but the moment he became the president
of the United States of America, he had to act more aggressively or stupidly
than Donald Trump, lest he goes down as a one-term president (even if his
health allows him to run for a second term). Be that as it may, some, if
history is of any guide, were actually born evil, as Mer-tze argued two
thousand years ago.
America was the John Wayne to many Chinese
during World War II. Its Flying Tigers did a wonderful job in helping to bring
supplies over the Himalayas when Nanning was cut off by the Japanese. George
Marshall tried to reconcile Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Zedong and introduce a
“Marshall” plan to help China rebuild after the war. And in the 1970s, Richard
Nixon’s visit paved the way for China to return to the world stage.
However, if the worldviews of America’s last
three presidents, and the way the country has abandoned Afghanistan to its own
devices, were to be of any guide, then the pro-Independence young in Taiwan and the misguided Hong Kongers should think more deeper about their beliefs. It is
still certainly not too late for them to come to their senses.
Let’s be reminded of the following chapters
in history and if possible, let our young know about them, especially on the
background leading to them to see my da-jie’s advice is timely:
(1) The Boxer Uprising by the Eight Nation Alliance (1899-1901)
The Boxer Uprising was an armed
insurrection against the increasing foreign intervention including Christian
missionary work in China towards the end of the Qing dynasty. The ruling Manchu
court was ambivalent about the movement. However, after a siege of the Legations
by the Boxers, a 20,000-strong Eight Nation Alliance of American,
Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian
troops was organized to lift the siege. They whacked the Qing Imperial Army in
Tianjin and went on to plunder Beijing and summarily executed those suspected
of being Boxers. The Boxer Protocol of 7 September 1901 saw the execution of
government officials who had supported the Boxers, the provision for foreign
troops to be stationed in Beijing, and the payment of indemnity of 450 million
taels of silver – about $10 billion at 2018 silver prices and more
than the government's annual tax revenue at that time – over the course of the
next 39 years to the eight nations involved.
Many of us were led to believe the Boxers
were a bunch of ugly Chinamen going around the country looking for foreigners
and Chinese Christians to slaughter. But weren’t they Chinese patriots in their
own way, albeit misguided in some respects – like believing in their impenetrability
by firearms and their anger at Christianity?
Let’s
carve out China
(2) The First Opium War (1839-42)
There were two opium wars. The first was fought between China and Britain and the second, by Britain and France against China.
The first was: British traders had been illegally exporting opium mainly from India to China since the 18th century. The trade exploded from 1820, resulting in widespread addiction and causing serious social and economic disruptions in China. In 1839 the Chinese government confiscated and destroyed some 20,000 chests (about 1,400 tons) of opium that were warehoused at Guangzhou by British merchants. In the same year, some drunken British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government refused to turn the accused men over to the Chinese courts. Hostilities broke out. The British conducted several campaigns against the inferior Qing forces which finally ended with the former’s capture of Nanjing.
Under the Treaty of Nanjing, China had to pay Britain a large indemnity, cede Hong Kong Island to the British, and increase the number of treat ports where the British could trade and reside to five. Other Western countries quickly demanded and were given similar privileges.
The Treaty of Nanjing, cessation of Hong Kong
(3) The Second Opium War (1856-60)
While the Qing government was trying
to quell the Taiping Rebellion (1850-64), the British took the opportunity to
look for new concessions. Over a relatively minor incident in 1856, a British
warship sailed up the Pearl River and began to bombard Guangzhou. In December, angry
Chinese in the city burned foreign warehouse and hostilities escalated. The
French decided to join the British, using the murder of a French missionary in
the interior of China in early 1856 as an excuse. They quickly captured Guangzhou.
Upon reaching Tianjin, the Chinese were forced into negotiations.
The treaties of Tianjin, signed in June 1858, saw more trade, travel, and residence concession to the foreign powers, including the freedom of movement for Christian missionaries. In further negotiations in Shanghai later that year, the importation of opium was legalized.
However, the Chinese subsequently refused to ratify the treaties, and the two allies resumed hostilities. In August 1860 a larger force of warships of British and French troops captured Beijing and plundered and then burned down the Yuanming Garden (Summer Palace).
China had no choice but to sign the Beijing Convention, in which they agreed not only to observe the treaties of Tianjin but also to cede the southern portion of the Kowloon Peninsula to the British.
The war marked the emergence of Japan as a major world power. The war grew out of conflict over Korea which had long been China’s client state. Its strategic location opposite the Japanese islands and its natural resources of coal and iron attracted Japan’s interest. In 1875 Japan forced Korea to open itself to foreign, meaning Japanese, trade and to declare itself independent from China. Japan was welcomed by Korea’s more radical modernizing forces, while China continued to sponsor the conservative officials gathered around the royal family. In 1884 a group of pro-Japanese reformers attempted to overthrow the Korean government, but Chinese troops under Yuan ShiKai came to their rescue. Both sides signed a convention to withdraw troops from Korea.
But In 1894, Kim Ok-Kyun, a pro-Japanese Korean leader was lured to Shanghai and murdered. His body was then put aboard a Chinese warship and sent back to Korea, where it was quartered and displayed as a warning to other rebels. The Japanese government and public were outraged. The situation was made more tense later in the year when a rebellion broke out in Korea, and the Chinese government, at the request of the Korean king, sent troops to help to disperse the rebels. The Japanese considered this a violation of convention agreed earlier and they duly sent in 8,000 troops to Korea. When the Chinese tried to reinforce their own forces, the Japanese sank the British steamer which was carrying the reinforcements, further aggravating the tension.
War was finally declared
on 1st August 1894. Japanese troops scored quick and overwhelming
victories on both land and sea. By March 1895 the Japanese had successfully
invaded Shandong province and Manchuria. They blockaded the sea approaches to Beijing. The Chinese sued for
peace.
In a treaty, China recognized the independence of Korea and ceded Taiwan, some adjoining islands, and Liaodong Peninsula. China also agreed to pay a large indemnity and to give Japan trading privileges on Chinese territory. This treaty was later modified under the combined intercession of Russia, France, and Germany which forced Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula to China.
China’s
defeat encouraged the Western powers to make further demands of the Chinese
government. It also hastened the demise of the Qing dynasty.
(5) The Second Sino-Japanese
War (1931–1945) [Part of World War II]
In 1931, Japan detonated a small bomb close
to a railway line owned by Japan near Mukden (now Shenyang) to create an
excuse to stage a full invasion. This incident led to the occupation of
Manchuria where Japan established a puppet state called Manchukuo where the
Qing court’s last emperor Pu-Yi was installed as its emperor.
Six years later, Japan again
cooked up a somewhat similar pretext to wage war against China. A Japanese
soldier was found missing from his unit opposite Wanping, a town southwest of
Beijing, and the Japanese commander demanded the right to search the town for
him. This was refused and when the Chinese army fired on the Japanese army, all
hell broke loose. (The Japanese soldier later returned to his lines.) This is
the Marco Polo Bridge incident (or the 7-7 incident because it happened on 7th
July) which many historians regard as the actual beginning of the second Sino-Japanese
War or the start of Pacific theatre of the World War II.
Following this incident, the Japanese
captured Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. Widespread atrocities were committed
by the Japanese army, the most horrendous of which was described by Iris Chang
is her book The Rape of Nanking. After failing to stop the Japanese in
the Battle of Wuhan, the Chinese relocated its government to Chongqing.
With some Soviet help,
China was able to put up some strong resistance against the Japanese offensives.
The war actually reached a stalemate by 1939, after Chinese scored victories in
Changsha and Guangxi. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese
communist forces in Shaanxi. But the Japanese ultimately succeeded in the
year-long battle to occupy Nanning, which effectively cut off the last sea
access to the wartime capital of Chongqing. While Japan ruled the large cities,
they lacked sufficient manpower to control China's vast countryside. In
November 1939, Chinese nationalist forces launched a large-scale winter
offensive and in August 1940, Chinese Communist forces started a
counteroffensive in central China. The United States’ Flying Tigers also lent
support to China. However, Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December
1941 sealed its fate. The United States declared war. After the two atom bombs were dropped, Japan
formally surrendered on 2 September 1945.
The Second Sino-Japanese War accounted for the loss about 15 million military and civilian lives in China. Some put the figure even higher.
(6) Japanese Invasion of Southeast Asia during World War II (1941-45)
Conflict in this theatre began when Japan
invaded French Indochina in September 1940. It simultaneously attacked Pearl
Harbor, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, and Singapore in early
December 1941. However, Thailand chose to ally itself with Japan.
The Allies suffered many defeats in the first half of the war. Two major British warships, Repulse and Price of Wales, were sunk by a Japanese air attack off the coast of Malaya.
Japanese forces overran Malaya by the end of January 1942. The Allied forces in Singapore, under the command of Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. About 130,000 Allied troops became prisoners of war. The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender in British military history.
The Chinese living in Malaya particularly suffered from the Japanese occupation, some 100,000 were killed. (Japan actually favoured the Malays; many of the latter’s elites were made sword-carrying officers under the Japanese administration. Some were even encouraged to massacre the rural Chinese.)
The Japanese were less successful in its Indian Ocean raids, but it did force the British fleet to relocate from British Ceylon to Mombasa in Kenya. In 1942.
Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now
Indonesia) from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September
1945. Japan overran the entire colony in less than three months. Initially,
most Indonesians welcomed the Japanese as liberators from their Dutch colonial
masters. The sentiment changed after several million Indonesians were made forced
labourers. Hundreds of thousands were sent away from Java to the outer islands,
and as far as Burma and Siam. Of those taken off Java, not more than 70,000
survived the war. Four million people died in the Dutch East Indies as a
result of famine and forced labour during the Japanese occupation, including
30,000 European civilian internee deaths.
During the 1944-45 period, the Allied
troops largely bypassed the Dutch East Indies and as such, much of the colony
was still under occupation at the time of Japan's surrender in August 1945.
The occupation led to the ending of the Dutch
colonial rule in December 1949.
It is believed many ethnic Chinese suffered
under the Japanese rule.
Left: The Tiger of Malaya: General Tomoyuki Yamashita; Below: Japanese
atrocity in Malaya
Stocktaking…
Had China been the aggressor in any of the
above conflicts, I would certainly withdraw the title of this article and
apologize for it. All the pains were inflicted in China or on Chinese by
extension. Some may argue that the Boxers were barbaric and deserved
condemnation. Yes, maybe, but the West did use it to extract out-of-proportion reparations
and concessions from China. They should not be in China in the first place!
Now that China has been awakened, it is time
for Chinese all over the world to keep it awake. Chinese will only be safe in
the Western and pro-West world if China is strong and respected. To us it is
simply a no brainer choice!
Left: Spiritual, mythical… soaring high to help bring better
living and prosperity to the world. Right: Real, gentle… looking keenly to help
build trust and create harmony…
Above: From the
horse’s mouth: We Lied, We Cheated, We Stole. Below: End of an empire
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