News How do China look at the Japanese LDP's next governor candidate?

　When Prime Minister Suga announced his intention to abandon the candidate for the next Liberal Democratic Party president, China reacted all at once, especially the Global Times, which is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, issued commentaries in rapid succession. He is interested in Japan-China relations, but his commentary on Ms. Sanae Takaichi is astounding.

◆Global Times reaction to Prime Minister Suga's resignation

　Before looking at the individual comments on the LDP's next presidential candidate, first, the overall reaction to Prime Minister Suga's resignation Let's take a look at

　Prime Minister Suga just announced that he would not run for the LDP presidential candidate, but China considers that to be the same as expressing his intention not to run for the next prime minister's candidate. The target of interest is narrowed down to who would be the most suitable for the post, and if so, what would happen to Japan-China relations.

Therefore, let's first look at the reaction to Prime Minister Kan's resignation itself, not to individual candidates.

On September 3rd, the Global Times electronic version "Global Times" under the umbrella of the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper "People's Daily" said, "No matter who in Japan replaces Yoshihide Suga, China can handle everything. > (=China is fine no matter who it is).

　According to it, the reason why Prime Minister Kan gave up on the presidential election is analyzed as follows.

● There is no choice but to withdraw due to setbacks in adjusting the top personnel of the Liberal Democratic Party.

●The biggest cause is the failure of corona countermeasures. In Japanese society, disappointment over the slump in the Japanese economy amidst the raging effects of the coronavirus is greater than the success of the Olympics.

● Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida, former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Sanae Takaichi, Minister of State for Administrative Reform Taro Kono, and former Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba are expected to be the new president and prime minister of the Liberal Democratic Party, but no matter who they are. However, Japan enters a new era of political turmoil.

● Looking at the climax of 2018, when Japan-China relations were evaluated as "getting on track" (Author's note: In 2018, former Prime Minister Abe visited China as a state guest, and the Belt and Road Initiative in a third country In the year when he promised to cooperate with Xi Jinping and promised to visit Japan as a state guest by Xi Jinping, no matter who becomes the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party or becomes prime minister, it is not realistic to see a “great change” in Japan-China relations.

●This is because anti-China sentiment is growing in Japan, and the US strategy to contain China internationally has a strong gravitational pull on Japan.

● However, at the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Japan's GDP was still higher than China's, but in 2020, China's GDP will be about three times that of Japan's, and China's annual automobile sales will increase. The mileage of high-speed rail is 5.5 times that of Japan, and the mileage of high-speed rail is 13.7 times that of Japan's Shinkansen. As a result, Japan is forced to consider its policy toward China very carefully.

●Nevertheless, Japan has overcome the resentment of the atomic bomb being dropped by the United States and the humiliation of being occupied by the US military to this day. Therefore, Japan will not "submit" to China and will not reach "mutual respect" until China leads Japan in all areas as it did in the Tang Dynasty. It is still a long way off for Japan to be “mangled” in China.

● However, Japan should be aware that it can no longer pose a fundamental threat to China. The amount of economic and trade cooperation between Japan and China is substantial and should be viewed as the most substantive element of Japan-China relations. Regardless of who Japan's next prime minister is, or whether Japan's assertiveness toward China becomes stronger, the reciprocity and scale of the economic and trade relationship between Japan and China will not be affected.

● In conclusion, no matter who the next prime minister is, China will be stronger than Japan, and it will definitely be Japan that will suffer from the deterioration of Japan-China relations. do not have.

　The quotation was long, but this is China's basic attitude toward Japan, so I introduced it without omitting it as much as possible. What should be noted here is that China believes that the president of the Liberal Democratic Party will be the next prime minister, and does not seem to anticipate the possibility that the opposition party will change the government in the upcoming lower house election.

◆Criticism of Candidate Sanae Takaichi

　The next thing to pay attention to is the criticism of Rep. Sanae Takaichi. As of September 6th, he had only announced his intention to run, and it was September 8th, when I was writing this manuscript, that he gathered 20 nominees and announced his candidacy.

　Nevertheless, as of the 6th, the Kankyuu Net was criticizing Rep. Takaichi using expressions that would shock Japanese people. I hesitate to put it into words, but since this is what the Global Network has written, I would like to ask for your kindness to be objective and allow me to write it as it is below.

　On September 6th, the global network was

I tried to read the word "madman" carefully because I thought it would be good if it meant "crazy political lover", but unfortunately it was written with the tone of "this person is crazy". I was surprised to find that Along with that, it is also surprising that the Chinese Internet is full of pairs of "Takaichi" and "Madman".

　According to the Kankyuu network report, it generally says the following. ( ) is the author.

●According to Japanese media, if she succeeds, she could become Japan's first female prime minister. According to the Sankei Shimbun, on Friday (September 3), Takaichi insisted, "As a Japanese, based on freedom of religion, it is absolutely not a diplomatic issue to continue visiting the shrine regardless of one's position." He suggested that he would continue to visit Yasukuni Shrine even if it were to come."

●Mr. Takaichi has repeatedly slandered China by brandishing the Chinese threat theory. In an interview with the monthly magazine "Hanada" (October issue) published in August this year, Mr. Takaichi positioned "China's increase in military spending" as "Japan's defense risk." Last month, he also announced his intention to pass a "Resolution Condemning the Chinese Government's Human Rights Violations in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet" (Establishment of the Magnitsky Law) at the autumn interim Diet session. It's rather commendable that you've perused ).

● Mr. Takaichi advocated a revision of the law to give greater authority to the Self-Defense Forces. They do not admit the fact of forced conscription.

　I have the impression that if Mr. Takaichi is called a "madman" with this last item, it is a very good thing.

Regarding Candidate Fumio Kishida: You should have come back as a strong man, but were you scared?

On September 7th, Global Network reported that Fumio Kishida, who had ``ambition and desire'' written on his face, ``used the (fake) means of confrontation with China'' to take the throne of prime minister. I'm trying to get my hands on it>, which is a confusing headline. The original Chinese for the phrase ``using a (fake) means of confrontation with China'' here is the expression ``a hitman against China'', which means ``himself being hit by a car and being run over. It is a "hit shop" who says, "Please give me compensation because I did it."

In other words, they want to say "He is trying to get the votes of the electorate by pretending to speak ill of China". Don't think so" or "Don't be deceived by his words".

　In addition, because he is aiming for the throne of the prime minister this time, he flatters young people and exchanges opinions on YouTube, saying, "Banana is a snack." Do you think that?"

Up until now, he had been rather indecisive, but this time he was trying to change his attitude and give a punchy and powerful impression. , but on the other hand, another reporter from Kankyuu said, "Are you scared? Fumio Kishida's latest remarks regarding the Moritomo Gakuen scandal are ``I didn't ask you to investigate.'' I am reporting.

In other words, former Prime Minister Abe's remarks on TV that "further explanation is necessary" regarding the Moritomo Gakuen issue touched on the wrath of former Prime Minister Abe, and Mr. Abe turned to supporting Mr. Takaichi instead of Mr. Kishida. Mr. Kishida was ``frightened'' and reversed his previous statement. It means that the Chinese side is closely observing the story that it has become known to people and has lost its popularity.

◆ Candidate Taro Kono is highly regarded in China as a "pro-Chinese faction" at heart

　There seems to be an order, and at the current stage of writing the manuscript, Mr. Taro Kono's evaluation in the global network is still I didn't find it, but I was surprised to find that the word "pro-China" (pro-China) was automatically listed just by entering the characters "Taro Kono" in a Chinese Internet search.

　To give some examples, for example, , but from the time of Foreign Minister in 2019, There are also things that mention different points. Hua Chunying is, of course, a veteran female spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

　Also from 2019,

　When Mr. Kono was criticized in Japan for saying that the watch he was wearing was a "golden watch", Mr. Kono replied, "No, this is the bamboo watch given out as a commemorative gift at the ASEAN 50th anniversary ceremony. In China, where Kono is very popular, even that explanation was welcomed, and at one point there was a bamboo clock boom in China.

　Mr. Kono is highly popular as a "representative of the pro-China faction" for his two-shot selfie with Hua Chunying.

　The above is too much information to introduce, but there are people who are called "madmen" by China and are abused or warned, and there are people who are admired as "pro-China representatives". there is

　For the nation of Japan, who is important depends on the choice of the Japanese people.

　This election is the LDP presidential election, but in the upcoming House of Representatives election, whether the LDP Komeito will win more votes or the opposition coalition will win more votes will determine whether the LDP president will become the prime minister of Japan. Whether or not it will be decided.

　In that sense, it would be useful to know how China views candidates in the LDP presidential election.

　This article is reprinted from the website of the Institute for Global Studies on China Issues.