Transcription
They are so concerned about provoking or angering you know, or or infuriating, you know, China, but just for the sake of placating China and keeping your mouth shut, I think it's a recipe for disaster and it will make China more arrogant. And you know, from time to time, you have to call a spade a spade, and that this is not well understood even by a number of Japanese politicians.
So just last year, I published a book, you know, along with uh, one of the most famous Japanese commentators, Kadasan. The title of the book was China's Psychopants. We have a number of, you know, people who tend to be psychopantic uh, toward the Middle Kingdom. Uh, we severely criticize their attitudes, and it has become a bestseller in Japan too.
But, you know, China's psychopants, Australia does not have the monopoly of China's psychopants. China's psychopants are everywhere. And when it comes to waging information warfare or cognitive warfare, you know, so that they let think, you know, now we are having Chinese century, US is degrading, China is growing up, know, listen to China, you know, don't go against the wish of China, Beijing. And know, I think among some people, you know, this just simplistic idea is prevailing uh, to my great concern.
So you have to take a look at real China. China has become strong, but China has many, many weaknesses. And this weakness sometimes, know, makes China very, very dangerous, as we talked over lunch today. Maybe for this year, next year, China could be very, very precarious, and uh, they might resort to some sort of adventurism. But this is a kind of real China we have to take a hard look without, you know, fawning, you know, without being psychopantic, and uh, I think here we do need to compare notes, you know, between Australia and Japan.
>> It was a Chinese man himself, Lee Kuan Yu, who warned >> 25 years ago >> yes >> that China's rise coupled with its communist-flavored masters would present very real challenges. They would become so powerful that, as he put it, they'd only have to flex their economic model muscles, which they've tried with Australia to bring people to heel. And that the only way to hold that back >> would be for the other countries in the region >> and indeed globally, I think he meant to club together and say, take one of us on, you take all of us on. That a fair summation of your view?
>> I think so. And uh, I think uh, you know, uh, looking at the advent of, you know, recent China, what uh, strikes me is China, you know, did not make any big successes in the battleground. Now, if you look back at the history of the US, or even the Soviet Union, you know, there have been, you know, decisive wars in which they showed their military prowess. In the case of China, what was it? Was it Korean War? I doubt it. Was that the war against Vietnam back in 1979? So China does not have any brilliant, you know, military record. Whereas China's, you know, prowess or strength or influence comes from its massive market and economic, you know, growth and the sheer size of population.
So here we are. I know we have to take a hard look at both the strengths and weaknesses of China, and we shouldn't overestimate China's capabilities, whereas we shouldn't underestimate, you know, their capacity. Uh, that is why we do need more, you know, closer liaison and, you know, exchange of opinions between Japan, Australia, and Japan and US.