By Clint Richards
China’s attempts to shore up support could backfire and drive the Japanese in favor of collective self-defense.
A map printed earlier this week by a Chinese youth magazine with official ties to the government has provoked Japanese protest and is likely to add fuel to nationalist fires in both countries. While both Japan and China have taken provocative actions over the last several months that have contributed to the marked deterioration in ties since 2012, this latest image could well prove more harmful than most recent statements from the Chinese side. While the Chinese government may make the claim that it did not condone the image or have prior knowledge that it would be printed, its connection to the magazine will give Japanese nationalists all the evidence they need.
The Chongqing Youth News, based in the southwestern city and linked to the Communist Youth League, on Tuesday printed a map of Japan with mushroom clouds over the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, with Tokyo being the only other place identified (although sans mushroom cloud). The map’s title read “Japan wants a war again,” with an article on the opposite page stating that, “as the butcher of World War Two, the blood on Japan’s hands has yet to dry,” although the magazine does not explicitly state that the map and article are connected.
Read the full story at The Diplomat