The following episode from ancient Chinese history came to mind after a Chinese spy plane recently violated Japanese territorial airspace. Beijing's response to the fallout from the incident also echoed this historical parallel.
Kaerimite ta o iu (顧みて他たを言う) is an adage meaning roughly "When in a fix, give an evasive answer." The author Junnosuke Yoshiyuki is said to have long misinterpreted this saying to mean "criticizing others based on one's own self-reflection." He no doubt got confused because of the use of kaerimite, which can have the nuance of engaging in "self-reflection." At least that is what he claimed in his collection of essays Yayaya no Hanashi (Short Thoughts on Random Topics).
Yoshiyuki was no doubt shocked when he learned what the phrase actually meant: Avoid answering a question by talking about something unrelated.
The phrase is said to originate from an incident in The Mencius. In this episode, the king of the kingdom of Qi sought to avoid answering a question from the Confucian philosopher Mencius (Mengzi). He managed to do so by looking around to the left and right. Thus, kaerimite here means "looking around left and right" rather than "self-reflection."
China's Deflective Tactics
However, the real affront in the airspace violation came not from Beijing's efforts to avoid answering the criticism from Japan. Instead, it was the extreme maliciousness they displayed in adamantly refusing to admit that they had made a mistake.
Zhao Leji, who ranks third on the Chinese Communist Party hierarchy, stated that he expected the two governments to "communicate appropriately." His response was typical of China's approach of studiously ignoring the problem.
Zhao made the remark to Toshihiro Nikai, the head of the non-partisan Japan-China Parliamentary Friendship Association. At the time, the delegation was visiting China. I am sure quite a few people harbor doubts about how effective such "communication" could be. The right course of action would be for China to reflect on its military move and offer an apology.
LDP Leadership Candidates React
Takayuki Kobayashi and Sanae Takaichi, both candidates in the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election, have condemned the incursion. Cabinet ministers Yoshimasa Hayashi and Yoko Kamikawa have also vocally denounced China's actions.
Now it is time for the rest of the LDP leadership candidates to condemn China's violation of Japan's airspace. Some seem fixated instead on political and monetary issues and refuse to face the seriousness of the international situation directly.
We now also frequently hear the refrain, "Politics that Obeys the Rules, A Party that Obeys the Rules." That is not intended as a criticism of the people making such statements.
But for the ruling party, which bears the important responsibility of the nation, should that be the starting point for its renewal? It is hard to shake a sense of incongruity in that regard.
Look right, look left….
However, we are not talking about a traffic lesson for schoolchildren here.
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(Read the article in Japanese.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
