Wen Yang: The “what if” in the history of the Diaoyu Islands losing their land

Wen Yang: The “what if” in the history of the Diaoyu Islands losing their land The government’s rhetoric was firm and severe, the military’s exercises were intense and fierce, and the citizens’ demonstrations were unprecedented in scale. Looking back at history,…

Wen Yang: The "what if" in the history of the Diaoyu Islands' loss of land. The government's rhetoric was firm and severe, the military's exercises were intensive and fierce, and the citizens' demonstrations were unprecedented in scale. Looking back on history, in the more than 100 years since China lost the Diaoyu Islands again and again and lost them step by step, it has never been as tough as it is today, fighting for every inch of land and refusing to give in! Needless to say, the main reason is that China has become stronger. China has the means that Japan has, and China also has means that Japan does not have. The big cards and trump cards in its hands are things that Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai, Chiang Kai-shek and other Chinese leaders who had to give in to Japanese pressure in the era of weak countries could not even dream of. Looking at it this way, it seems that the century-old Sino-Japanese relationship is a relationship of strength comparison. Whoever has a stronger fist will be justified in the quarrel, take the lead in the negotiation, and gain in the game. Although this appears to be the case, it is still incomplete to draw this conclusion, because throughout the entire process, Japan has not always been stronger than China. In the 1880s, when Japan first invaded the Diaoyu Islands, the Qing Dynasty at that time was much stronger than Japan in terms of both hard and soft power. Regardless of anything else, a simple comparison of the maps of East Asia used by the two countries at that time shows that the mapping level of the Qing Dynasty was at least a hundred years advanced than Japan's. Then there was the initial stage after the end of World War II, when Japan was almost in ruins, and most of its main production indicators were less than one-third of the pre-war level. Although China was also in the post-war recovery stage at that time, its overall strength was not inferior to Japan's. However, history has witnessed that precisely during the critical period when China should have made a difference, especially during the period after World War II when China's international status was unprecedentedly improved and Japan was in a trough in all aspects of politics, economy, and military, China lost its golden opportunity due to its own problems and encouraged Japan to further occupy the Diaoyu Islands. More than sixty years have passed, and in the face of the latest situation of the resurgence of the Diaoyu Islands dispute, it is necessary to reflect on this period of history again. What would have happened if China had not fallen directly into civil war, or if it had implemented post-war claims against Japan and occupied Japan and then turned to domestic struggle? Not to mention the small uninhabited island Diaoyu Island, the entire Ryukyu Islands and some other Japanese-affiliated islands are very likely to be owned by China. Article 8 of the 1945 Potsdam Declaration makes it clear: The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine. The "we" among them are the United States, Britain and China. It is "we" who decide which of the small affiliated islands other than Japan's four large islands can be retained by Japan and which Japan must give up. The criteria for abandonment were clearly defined in the 1943 Cairo Declaration: all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. In other words, counting from the time when Japan began its external expansion in the Meiji era, all the territories Japan has "stolen" from China must be returned to China. It’s even more beautiful than a daydream! Sadly, the Chinese people's misfortune is not over yet, and nothing so cheap will happen to China at that time. Precisely because we did not seize this great opportunity to use our status as a victorious nation to regain all the lost territory, the following things became increasingly difficult to handle. When the Korean War broke out, the United States was determined to re-support Japan, so it overturned the system established by the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, re-signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan, which was very beneficial to Japan, and arranged for Japan and Taiwan to separately sign the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty with basically the same spirit. The United States signed a separate contract with Japan in order to build a Cold War system in East Asia, while the Taiwan regime would rather sacrifice China to benefit Japan and agreed to sign the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty with Japan in order to strive for its own legitimacy. After the signing of the peace treaty, Ye Gongchao, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, said in response to a question from the Legislative Yuan: "Under the current circumstances, Japan has no right to transfer Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to us. Even if Japan intends to do so, we cannot accept it?" Can you imagine? In just a few years, the "we" who were aloof and had the power to decide Japan's fate were reduced to the pitiful "we" who are now unable to even control their own destiny! By this time, the whole world had seen it, and Japan had the last laugh. When the United States and Japan signed the "Return of Okinawa Agreement" in 1971, which also included the Diaoyu Islands, the mainland and Taiwan protested together. What use was this? Taiwan only expressed "surprise" and "absolutely unacceptable" due to its friendly relations with the United States; while the mainland, which was in the midst of the "Cultural Revolution" and civil strife, shouted in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that "the Chinese people must liberate Taiwan!" The Chinese people must also regain the Diaoyu Islands and other Taiwan-affiliated islands! ". It is useless for a nation that is always fighting among itself. No matter how strong it is, no one will really be afraid of you, or even take you seriously. Today, the Diaoyu Islands dispute has arisen again. I hope the Chinese people can truly never Don't forget history, the history of Japan's invasion of China, and the history of our fellow countrymen's resistance to foreign aggression. We are shouting "Today's China is no longer the China during the September 18th Incident; today's Chinese army is not the Beiyang Navy during the Sino-Japanese War of 1891! " This loud slogan also shouted: Today's cross-strait is no longer the cross-strait during the period of civil war! Remember that in British history, whenever a war came, all parties would automatically stop party fighting, and elected representatives from each party to jointly form a centralized "war cabinet." When the Chinese people's politics will mature to this level, China's true strength will be most completely demonstrated, and China's strength advantage over Japan will surely be firmly maintained. What the "what if" in the history of the Diaoyu Islands lost is nothing more than this on September 22, 2012.