English: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This is a sobering and reflective article from China’s semi-official newspaper, People’s Daily. It’s well worth a read. Check it out!
via Sino-Japan ties ‘at crossroads’ – People’s Daily Online.
Personally, I struggle with Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s foreign and defense policy. Abe seems to be trying to please his right wing sponsors but is at risk of severely damaging relations with China, the world’s No. 2 economy that is rapidly catching up on the US – China
English: Logo of the People’s Daily 中文: 人民日报题字 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
will be No. 1 soon. Meanwhile, Japan as number 3 does not have a robust strategy. The article is at pains to identify with the Japanese people but questions some of the policies of Abe’s government.
Thoughts?
Dr Alf's Blog 
Dr Alf is correct.
The Chinese have already said “There cannot be two suns in the sky” and bit by bit they are buying up Western companies,Western infrastructure and building majority shareholdings in Western companies inside America and in London ,selected parts of the UK and within Europe.
Within 10 years the biggest 5 insurers and the biggest 5 banks will be Chinese and between now and 2016(present demonstrations notwithstanding) we will see London,New York and Singapore eclipsed by Hong Kong.
Volkswagen Audi Group has already overtaken Toyota as the leading automobile manufacturer in the world so even in the field of car manufacturing Japan is being eclipsed by the one European country the Chinese take seriously,Germany.
Abe in Japan and his fellow Bushido Knights who want to go on attending shrines and pretending that the past never happened need to wake up.
No-one has a blameless past but the first step is acknowledgement of what happened and some remorse.
After that there needs to be an acknowledgement of the competitive position which is worse than is indicated by the few examples I have given which is bad enough on its own.
A strategy to close some of the gaps then needs to be developed just as the Chinese developed one which I saw unveiled in Wuxi for closing the gap between Indian BPO industries and those of China between 2011 and 2020.
Some gaps cannot be closed but the Japanese have special expertise in miniaturisation and the technique of creating technological components that fit inside of each other and create an original composite product better than the original.
That exercise across all industries and segments would reveal areas where it would make more sense to co-operate with the Chinese and for them to co-operate in return to mutual benefit.
Abe seems over confrontational and over reliant on American support to help him resist China’s growing military power over the disposition of the disputed islands.
Wiser heads need to prevail because from where I sit Abe is not holding a particularly good hand of cards.