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FIGHT FOR POWER The Cold War, which has been smoldering for 75 years: How the conflict between the three great powers in the Pacific slowly boiled over Unlike Europe, East Asia still lacks a willingness to reconcile Writes: Jutarnji.hrPosted: September 2, 2020 3:20 pm Panorama of Shanghai, Japanese warships, South Korean fighter jet and panorama of Tokyo Panorama of Shanghai, Japanese warships, South Korean fighter jet and panorama of Tokyo Profimedia, Alamy Facebook Twitter Messenger E-mail World War II ended on September 2, 1945, with a ceremony on the American warship Missouri, at which representatives of Japan signed the capitulation. But in the 75s after that, relations in East Asia did not change much. Completely different than in Europe. Here the war opponents Germany and France reconciled and founded the European Community, the forerunner of today's European Union. The Soviet Union disintegrated, Germany reunited, the countries of Eastern Europe became democratic. In East Asia, however, the Cold War still reigns. "Territorial and ideological disputes in the region remain an unresolved legacy of World War II," German historian Torsten Weber told Deutsche Welle . Still, there have been changes there as well. In China, the Communists took power in 1949. In Japan, the San Francisco Peace Treaty ended the occupation in 1952. Later, South Korea and Taiwan overthrew the dictatorship. But the two political systems have remained blood enemies to this day. “In China and North Korea, we have party and family dynasties, in other countries we have democracies,” Weber explains. Two superpowers - the US and China - fighting for supremacy in the region, divided countries as on the Korean Peninsula, the existence of buffer states such as North Korea are typical features of the Cold War. That status quo could be overcome in 1989 when the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall fell. Had China also followed the reform movement, the two Koreas and Japan would have had to react. "But that historic opportunity was missed by the Heavenly Peace Square massacre," says Weber, who works at the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. Instrumentalized history Unlike Europe, East Asia still lacks a willingness to reconcile, which is reflected primarily in territorial disputes. They are conducted primarily around uninhabited islands off South Korea and in the East China Sea, around the use of marine resources, and around military security. But with Japan’s former war opponents, an important role is played by the feeling that justice is not served, because Japan does not want to pay a territorial price for its offensive war. "From the point of view of Beijing, Seoul and Pyongyang, the division of Korea and the existence of Taiwan are the consequences of Japanese imperialism," said Canadian political scientist Stephan Nagy of the International Christian University in Tokyo, according to Deutsche Welle . Such a situation encourages nationalism. South Korea is trying to overcome the colonial time of the 1910th to 1945th conscious "dejapanizacijom." And the attitude of China towards Japan is characterized by nationalism. In the re-establishment of relations in 1972 , Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) said that without the Japanese invasion of his communists never they could take power.Then the thesis was propagated that the fascists seduced the Japanese people and encouraged them to commit atrocities.But during the 1990s China under Jiang Zemin replaced class thinking with nationalism and revived the already forgotten image of hostile Japan. RELATED NEWS 8620777 YOSHIHIDE SUGA Longtime closest associate of outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a favorite to succeed HEALTH PROBLEMS Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also officially announced his resignation, but did not speak about the successor “Stories of oppression and sacrifice are important for identity creation and they are reinforced by upbringing and popular culture,” says Daniel Sneider , an East Asian expert at Stanford University in the United States. This means: China, South Korea and North Korea criticize Japan in order to gain sympathy among the people as nationalists. "Leaders in Beijing and Seoul do not maintain the memory of the past just to pay tribute to the dead, but to derive political advantage from it," said Ralph Cossa , former president of the American Pacific Forum Institute in Hawaii. "Empty apologies" At the same time, Japan's behavior to this day contributes to making these accusations work. Most governments in Tokyo have rarely shown regret over the Japanese attack on China, the 1937 Nanjing massacre, or the forced deportation of Chinese women to military brothels. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was the first to explicitly apologize for these atrocities during a 2001 visit to China. Despite this, he went to the Yasukuni monument to celebrate war criminals convicted at the Tokyo tribunal as patriots. Today’s Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe no longer mentions Japan’s imperialist past at all. "In science, this is called emptying an apology," says historian Weber. In doing so, Japan gives its neighbors cause for further distancing and criticism. Ignoring the things that connect Emphasizing the national and differences prevents East Asian countries from paying more attention to what they have in common and thus finding a way to get closer and reconcile. Many Germans today are also seen as Europeans, thus equating themselves with the French or Italians. Understanding in Europe works on the basis of a common philosophy, such as the tradition of the Enlightenment. The countries of East Asia have common roots in Chinese culture and philosophy, in Confucianism, Buddhism and writing. But they prefer to argue over who better embodies that heritage today. From the Chinese point of view, Japan betrayed Asian values ​​with its offensive war. On the other hand, China has distanced itself from Asia with Maoism, while Korea has failed to create the unity of the nation. In addition, the three countries lack common institutions within which to negotiate a common heritage. And Europeans have a Commission with far-reaching powers, a parliament with representatives of all countries, and NATO as a security organization. In East Asia, it sometimes takes years for the most important leaders to sit at the same table to get to know each other better. And that is why relations in East Asia have remained so icy to this day. *********************************************************** The philistine potion is becoming an increasingly bitter babaroga class soup of social democracy