The Truth, yet another Tienanmen of China? Exclusive interview with Michael Yon

(To Maria Grazia Labellarte)
11/10/16

China is increasingly becoming a leading nation in financial investments around the world, starting with those in Africa, Europe, South America but also the United States. We tried to share views on China's new media policy and its future geopolitical assets with an American citizen. We did this with Michael Yon, a member of the American special forces in the early 80s and, since the mid-90s, a writer. Committed to military and geopolitical issues, several American editorial columns (National Review Online e The New York Post) and Asians mentioned it.

In the 2005 he won the "Weblog Award" such as best media weblog journalism. In the 2007 and 2008 he won the Weblog Award following a survey for 'Best Military Blog'. Websites of CNN, ABC, and CBS have referred to his analyzes. He appeared on TV at CBS Early Show e Good Morning America.

Mr. Yon, do you really think that Americans are bombarded by a carefully constructed media policy characterized by messages designed to give a favorable image of Chinese policies in the past, deliberately concealing the crimes committed?

In my opinion, Beijing's current propaganda, financed and orchestrated by President Xi Jinping, is apt to present the country in the policies of the past in a more favorable way, it would be somehow devoid of attention for the mistakes committed or intentionally supported for pure financial reasons. There is no need a long memory to recall as Beijing nourish the need to divert attention from massive internal civil unrest and popular political dissent after Tiananmen Square in 1989. Then he concentrated first on the foreign enemy, renewing the anti-US campaign, later, quickly shifting attention to an easier external target, the Japanese one, and also inventing an internal enemy (the "Jews" of China: Falun Gong / Falun DARFA).

The crimes are so numerous and start from the very dawn of the CCP itself: the mass crimes against humanity in Yunan, for example. During the insurgency and brutal Mao, in the 1930s and 1940s, the political destruction of the enemies, the ethnic genocide of non-Han minorities in Tibet, Xinjiang, Manchuria, and elsewhere, to the present day.

Xi continued to attack domestic political enemies, continuing with the militaristic policy of expanding beyond borders. Certainly in the past the most striking crimes were those perpetrated against the weakest sections of the Chinese population. Millions died during famines caused directly by the disastrous Mao's economic policies, but those numbers pale in comparison with the number of forced abortions and sterilizations carried out by the Chinese police state in the service of the "one child policy." According to government statistics, there have been no more than 330 million abortions in China since 1971. Some researchers estimate that most of these have been "involuntary" (ie, ordered by the state). There have been about 200 million surgical sterilizations in the same time period, and more than 400 million IUDs inserted. Again, it is likely that most, if not nearly all, cases were made against the will of the woman.

No wonder, then, that China's female suicide rate was by far the highest in the world. Added to these crimes are all the arrests, even currently favored by the government, of dissident politicians on trumped-up charges, in order to remove their organs and be sold for cash.

Could you give me practical media examples of how the country would pilot this policy aimed at putting it in a "good light"?

Examples would fill volumes: from Man in the High Castle produced by Amazon, Iron Man III, Red Dawn (where the enemy has been digitally altered to replace the Chinese as an invading army in exchange for the North Korean invasion of North Koreans), and to end series of films and books that would favor the role of the CCP (Communist Party Chinese) during the Second World War.

In the 21st century, with the continuous acquisition of American production and distribution (the offer for 1 billion dollars for Dick Clark Productions would be the last) we will see changes in favor of this media policy. Fortunately, the US government is finally beginning to take notice. The proof is the fact that the United States Congress introduced the 2016 Countering Information Warfare Act, implemented by Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, to identify and combat Chinese disinformation and propaganda tools designed to "undermine the national security of states United and key allies and partners ". "Key Allies" that would include South Korea and Japan.

Another key example is the presence of the Confucius Institutes which are essentially "funnels" of Beijing's power for its flow into the American Academy and the education system as a whole. These institutions are marketed for the dissemination and learning of the language and even in East Asian studies departments in American universities, but may also act as instruments of Beijing intelligence spy agencies for monitoring or to put pressure on Diplomatic opinions, economic , policies or to control free thinking about China in general.

The information concerning the issues on war and crimes, mentioned above, I have analyzed in 11 countries. Among these there is also the theme of "sex slaves". According to historical allegations, Japan enslaved between 200.000 and 400.000 women. Countries visited for my research include: China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Myanmar, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and finally the United States. It emerged from the study that this never happened. I am referring to the large-scale kidnapping. There have been sporadic cases yes, especially in Indonesia, but nothing is detected of a large-scale SYSTEM managed by the Japanese.

Certainly the Japanese were not angels at that time, there were war crimes especially at the expense of prisoners, some horrible. Defining the same, however, in the same way as the Nazis, becomes excessive, especially when the Japanese themselves also saved some Jews from the Nazis during the Second World War. This is a recognized fact and honored also from Israel.

Today, Japan is one of the most civilized countries and, certainly, this has required a very long work over the decades. It is not the mere result of an American occupation. Indeed, Japan would prefer to be left in peace by a hostile China and Korea, probably due to the continual attention that the country manages to have in the industrialized world.

Recently, however, the United States remains China's main interest. Interest I'm focusing on.

Do you think the Chinese government is trying to influence the feedback of the American public to isolate Japan, a country with which relations for centuries have tended to wars, threats and depredations?

The question itself highlights the effectiveness of Chinese propaganda. Japan has never been "at war with the current Chinese government". As previously mentioned, the Chinese government has strongly supported Mao several times in supporting Japan in the fight against the Taiwanese government for example. As pointed out by Phillip K. Jowett, up to six million Chinese have served or allied to Japan several times during the 30 and 40 years. The only time Japan fought against China was when the Mongols invaded Japan, twice, during the 90 years of the 1800 and in the 30 years of the 1900. Rather, most of the depredations suffered are those received from those who ruled China such as the Mongols, Manchu, Han, etc. Contrarily and historically the Japanese have shown a certain subjection to the Chinese civilization and they have not searched for centuries wars, threats and depredations. Japan, an island nation, was certainly not able to threaten or wage war on one of the most powerful military forces of the last two millennia. It was not until the end of the nineteenth century, when China became politically and militarily weak that Japan could become an industrialized nation and challenge China's long-standing hegemony throughout East Asia.
As the historian YayamaTarō outlined, in a recent historical essay, Japan has a long tradition of reverence for China. The Chinese idea that Japan was the predatory nation of Asia for "centuries" is a serious mistake.

You have spent more than a decade in more than twenty Asian countries, what is your feedback as a writer about future geopolitical assets in such a crucial area? Do you think China would participate in a new hypothetical cold war between the United States and Russia, as a Russian ally?

We have had a cold war with China since 1950, but this is often ignored and forgotten. We are still at war with North Korea and its ally, China, which fought openly against United Nations forces during the Korean War and was instrumental in maintaining the division of the peninsula and in maintaining a state of conflict. perennial at the 38th parallel. They have been actively engaged in asymmetrical warfare against the United States since the early 1990s, and recently China itself has very bluntly made bold statements about its intention of a global victory over the United States.

The new hypothetical "cold war "is much more than real.