.After the Second Korean War.

Apart from South Korea, which was beaten by the volunteers and lost its territory, the one who feared the most and hated China the most was probably Japan.

Facing the rising China, Japan's mentality is very contradictory.

This mentality is not only because the Second Korean War, or the Second Korean War is just an inducement, and it already existed before the Second Korean War broke out.

Every Japanese politician knows that a rising China will never be willing to be a land power.

More than a hundred years ago, the British fleet from the sea opened the national door of China, and since then it opened up a history of national humiliation for more than a hundred years. Although during this period.

The Chinese made a lot of efforts to change the situation of being backward and beaten by building a strong navy, but these efforts were all made in corruption and incompetence of the Qing government. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, China experienced the most turbulent period in four hundred years in the next half century, and China's relations with Japan also changed from friendship to hostility.

Will nations who have experienced this kind of experience make the same mistake?

Although China had always claimed to be a peaceful and rising power before the Second Korean War, it had never stopped the pace of military reform and had not relaxed its vigilance. In the eyes of the Japanese, whether it is the current China or a certain China in the future, sooner or later one day.

This powerful land power will let go of its complacent and complacent mentality, steadily move towards the ocean, and become a major maritime power.

This is definitely a disaster for the island country Japan.

Similar events have been staged in Europe in history, and directly triggered the First World War, which can even be said to be the root of World War II.

In order to curb the rising Germany as an "offshore balancer", Britain not only did not balance on the European continent, but also challenged Britain's global maritime hegemony to challenge Britain's global maritime hegemony, using all means, including open and bright, secret and ugly means, to win over all forces and encircle Germany in an all-round way, which eventually led to the development of the contradictions among the European continent's powerful countries to an irreconcilable level.

In the eyes of the Japanese, Japan is the English and China is the Germany.

Of course, for a long time, Japan did not need to personally snatch China like Britain. As a defeated country in World War II, Japan did not have the qualifications. Many Japanese people wanted to do everything they wanted to do, and Japan only needed to enjoy the benefits.

Because there is no need to come forward in person, Japan can still get along with everything.

Since the early 1970s, it has been after China and Japan officially resumed diplomatic relations.

Japan made full use of China's isolation from the international community and actively expanded the Chinese market. For this reason, it even established diplomatic relations with China before the United States, thus establishing the dominant position of Japanese companies in the Chinese market.

You know, until the beginning of the 21st century, American companies had no share of Chinese market share compared to Japanese companies.

But.

The Second Korean War completely shattered the Japanese dream of making a fortune in silence.

Although Japan did not participate in the war and was extremely restrained during the war. In addition to providing the United States with the right to use military bases in accordance with its alliance obligations, it did not do anything to interfere in the war, and even did not provide assistance to South Korea on a humanitarian basis. However, after the war, as the United States began to adjust its strategic deployment and shrink its strategic defense line in the Western Pacific region, Japan was pushed to the forefront.

In the eyes of some Japanese, this is not a bad thing.

In 2015, the United States officially announced.

The troops will be withdrawn from Japan and only a few military bases in Okinawa will be retained. The Seventh Fleet, which originally used Yokosuka as its home port, was also transferred to the Port of Apula in Guam. The United States' military presence in Japan will drop to the lowest point after World War II.

If everything goes well, the United States will withdraw its troops from Okinawa before 2030.

What was carried out simultaneously with the withdrawal of troops was naturally to enhance Japan's military strength and to "relax Japan's ties and gradually gain the power that must be a separate sovereign state.

At that time, the actions of the United States were regarded by many Japanese as the "second reform."

In the eyes of many Japanese, especially the younger generation of Japanese, this is the beginning of Japan's comprehensive revival and becoming a world power.

But, is the future really so beautiful?

First of all, from the perspective of US-Japan relations, although the United States began to loosen its ties for Japan, the relationship between master and slave has not changed. As long as the United States is still the world's number one power, as long as Japan still needs military aid provided by the United States, Japan is an ally of the United States and must abide by the rules of the game set by the United States.

The most important point among these is that Japan cannot develop nuclear capabilities.

It can be said that this is the most basic point in the American alliance principle.

Among the allies of the United States, except for Britain and France, and Israel, which never admits to possess nuclear weapons but certainly possess nuclear weapons, other allies have to rely on the nuclear protection umbrella provided by the United States. Any act of developing nuclear weapons without authorization will be regarded as a provocation to the United States.

The most vivid example is the original South Korea.

Under the pressure of the United States, let alone Japanese politicians, the more rational Japanese should know that unless Japan intends to move forward alone, don’t touch nuclear weapons.

Of course, talking about nuclear weapons is not a big problem.

Imagine it.

If Japan does not have nuclear weapons.

Why talk about independent defense capabilities?

Facing China, Japan, which has no strategic revenge ability, will definitely lack confidence in confrontation.

It can be said that without nuclear weapons, Japan can only curb China's strategic expansion actions at most.

It is impossible to fundamentally eliminate China's strategic expansion capabilities and willingness.

It is impossible to eliminate the strategic threat posed by China, and Japan's national security will not be guaranteed in the long term.

This is just a military issue.

In diplomacy, Japan, which is full of strength, will inevitably become a thorn in China's side and a thorn in its flesh.

The problem is that with the US retreating, Japan must strengthen its military strength and will inevitably be regarded by China as the most urgent military threat.

Smart Japanese can see that what the United States is doing is to let Japan replace the United States and engage in an arms race with China.

It can be said that as long as Japan is in front, the United States does not have to be in a hurry. It is halfway between China and the United States, and in addition to Japan, there is also a vast Pacific Ocean. If China wants to go to the world, it has to go out of the Western Pacific Ocean and break through the gates of hell.

Perhaps, China has no ambitions for Japan. After all, it is only one-thirty-third of China's territory, but one-tenth of China's population, and almost no resources. However, the dispute between China and Japan on territorial waters and territorial areas is enough to make these two economic powers, ranked second and third in the world, do a real battle, at least for decades.

China has to keep an eye on Japan and Japan.

This American trick is not very clever, but it works very well.

In fact, this is exactly the usual trick used by old empires to deal with emerging powers.

Before World War I, Britain made full use of the legacy of the French-Prussian War, that is, Germany occupied the Alsace and Lorraine in France to create irreconcilable conflicts between France and Germany, and then through the French-Russian alliance, it won over William II's cousin, namely Tsar Nicholas II, and eventually formed an alliance between Britain, France and Russia, to fight against Germany, which only gained the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which only won the weak Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Even after World War II, this trick was unpleasant.

For example, before India and Pakistan became independent, Britain used independence to create the Kashmir issue, causing these two South Asian powers to fight for decades. In the same place, the British used a "McMahon Line" drawn on the map to plant the root of disaster between India and China.

In fact, the root of the Sino-Japanese conflict is also a masterpiece of the United States.

After World War II, the United States recognized Taiwan as an inalienable part of China's territory on the one hand, and handed over the Diaoyu Islands, which belonged to Taiwan, to Japan.

This time, the United States did the same thing, which once again intensified the Sino-Japanese conflict.

Japan has no choice but to embark on the road of arms race. China cannot retreat, and can only strengthen its arms. The result is that conflicts between China and Japan will break out sooner or later.

Moreover, it will make one party pay a heavy price in the form of military conflict, but the United States, as the mastermind behind it, does not have to pay any price.

If China wins, the United States can intervene to ensure that Japan is safe and restore Japan's confidence.

If Japan defeats it, China will retreat for decades, making it even more difficult to challenge the United States' global hegemony.

There are not many Japanese who recognize this issue. After the Second Korean War, some Japanese aspiring people rushed to call for improving relations with China and clarifying some historical issues. Some people even proposed that Japan should form an alliance with China and establish an economic community.

The problem is that these civil voices have no effect at all.

Politically speaking, it is impossible for Japan to improve relations with China, let alone form an alliance with China.

Don't forget that it will not be until 2030 that all US troops will evacuate from Japan.

In these decades, China will not stop, and Japan will not be able to lower its defense level and welcome the rising China with a low attitude.

In fact, under the catalysis of Japanese national thought, no prime minister can give up his posture.

There is a dispute between territorial and territorial waters, and Japanese politicians are even less likely to risk being assassinated, deviate from the direction formulated by the United States and implement a pro-China policy.

But, in confronting China, Japan has almost no benefit.

This is not only the understanding of politicians, but also the general understanding of Japanese citizens, because economically, the relationship between China and Japan is already inseparable.

It can be said that this is exactly where the Japanese have contradictory attitudes towards China.

On the issue of national security and national future reform, Japan needs to maintain a tough stance and even be mentally prepared for the outbreak of Sino-Japanese military conflict. However, on issues such as economic development, Japan must rely on China, because China is already the world's largest producer and will become the world's largest consumer in the near future. As a country that relies heavily on import, export and processing trade in the economy, Japan must not lose the Chinese market.

You should know that China is Japan's second largest trade surplus.

Every year, Japanese companies have obtained hundreds of billions of dollars in net profit in the Chinese market. If there were no Chinese market, half of Japanese companies would probably go bankrupt!
Chapter completed!