Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Thursday, December four, twenty twenty five. The superstar of
Speaker 1: Japanese pop a Yumi Hamasaki, is the latest victim of
Speaker 1: a geopolitical dispute that's flaring big time. It's China versus Japan,
Speaker 1: and it's all about China's number one issue, the future
Speaker 1: of Taiwan. Now Australia is under pressure to choose a side.
Speaker 1: That's today's story.
Speaker 2: Bye bye, bye, bye bye.
Speaker 1: This is a Yumi Hamasaki, a forty seven year old superstar.
Speaker 1: She's Japan's best selling singer. Her nickname is the Empress
Speaker 1: of Hamasaki, who's Kylie Minogue level famous throughout the region.
Speaker 1: Was gearing up for a big show in Shanghai when
Speaker 1: suddenly Chinese authorities said fans weren't allowed to attend, so.
Speaker 3: She's due to play, and then the day before her
Speaker 3: fourteen thousand fans who sold out at the whole venue
Speaker 3: before they turned up, the concert was abruptly canceled, or
Speaker 3: at least canceled to the public.
Speaker 1: Will Glasgow is The Australian's North Asia correspondent.
Speaker 3: Now that Chinese officials have claimed force majeur. They don't
Speaker 3: explicitly say what has happened, but of course the reason
Speaker 3: Chinese officials, trying to make a point, have canceled this
Speaker 3: because they think it's inappropriate for a Japanese pop star
Speaker 3: to be entertaining Chinese audiences during this moment of unhappiness.
Speaker 2: Recently, the concert of Japanese pop star Ayumi Hamasaki in
Speaker 2: Shanghai was unexpectedly canceled. As a result, she performed the
Speaker 2: entire show in front of an empty audience.
Speaker 4: The fans basically just went to continue to support Aymihamazaki,
Speaker 4: who have decided to continue the performance in the empty stadium.
Speaker 1: The Chinese Communist Party is absolutely furious with Japan's new
Speaker 1: Prime minister, Sanai Takaichi.
Speaker 4: Japanese Prime Minister Sanai Takeichi has drawn criticism from China
Speaker 4: this week after suggesting Japan could respond with force to
Speaker 4: a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Speaker 1: That's the CCP's red line. It already regards Japan with
Speaker 1: suspicion and hostility and takes every opportunity to mention that
Speaker 1: time Japan teamed up with Adolf Hitler and tried to
Speaker 1: take over the world since World War Two. Japan's not
Speaker 1: engaged in any armed conflicts, but Takaichi's very deliberate use
Speaker 1: of words indicated if China attacks Taiwan, Japan's back in
Speaker 1: the game, it would be justified in taking military action
Speaker 1: as an act of self defense. In response, the Chinese
Speaker 1: Communist Party is taking revenge by using its complete control
Speaker 1: of Chinese society and the economy severely curtailing Chinese citizens'
Speaker 1: access to Japanese exports, including pop music.
Speaker 3: I mean, one of the lines the Chinese government has
Speaker 3: maintained throughout this is that the Chinese public so angry
Speaker 3: themselves about what the Japanese Prime minister said that they
Speaker 3: themselves are going to boycott Japanese products. The Chinese Communist
Speaker 3: Party acts as if it's the sort of natural backlash
Speaker 3: amongst the Chinese people. And look, it is the case
Speaker 3: that there are some angry nationalists, some angry Chinese nationalists,
Speaker 3: but it's also the case that there's loads of people
Speaker 3: in China who continue to like the Japanese pop stars
Speaker 3: I liked before, They still like sushi, would like to
Speaker 3: travel to Japan if their government wouldn't block them, So
Speaker 3: that canceled concert is a really striking example of the
Speaker 3: Chinese Communist Party making decisions for its own people to
Speaker 3: boycott things. We saw this in Australia in a massive
Speaker 3: way back in twenty twenty when the Chinese ambassadors said
Speaker 3: it'd interview that was threatening the economic coercion that was
Speaker 3: going to come, and he said maybe the Chinese people
Speaker 3: wouldn't want to buy Australian beef or drink Australian wine. Well,
Speaker 3: the truth was the Chinese people never got to say
Speaker 3: in that the Beijing put a huge political, politically motivated
Speaker 3: tariff on Australian wine into China, so it was just
Speaker 3: priced out of the market. And it's the same kind
Speaker 3: of idea Beijing claiming that it's the public that's boycott
Speaker 3: these products, where it's actually it's the government making these decisions.
Speaker 1: What is Japan's position on China and on Taiwan.
Speaker 3: Japan's got a really complicated and long history with Taiwan,
Speaker 3: and it's very well remembered in China. Taiwan was a
Speaker 3: Japanese colony. It was the model Japanese colonies. So Taiwan
Speaker 3: or Tokyo ruled Taiwan from eighteen ninety five to the
Speaker 3: end of World War Two nineteen forty five, so fifty
Speaker 3: year period, and there was some horrendous colonies Japan had
Speaker 3: around Asia, particularly South Korea or what's now to South Korea,
Speaker 3: was just ravaged by the Japanese treated appallingly, and within
Speaker 3: China itself, particularly in the northeast and what the Japanese
Speaker 3: called Manchuria. So the memory on the mainland of Japan
Speaker 3: and Imperial Japan is of this Nightmaris force, whereas in
Speaker 3: Taiwan it's much more complicated. Taiwan was set up as again,
Speaker 3: as I said, a model colony for Japan, and the
Speaker 3: Japanese wanted to use it to show they were an
Speaker 3: equal of any Western power. They weren't to be colonized.
Speaker 3: They were like the British and German and other European
Speaker 3: colonial powers, and they wanted to show in Taiwan what
Speaker 3: they could do. So they left a big legacy of
Speaker 3: urban infrastructure. They sort of paid the roads, and you know,
Speaker 3: it sounds a bit like the Monty Python sketch. You know,
Speaker 3: they've got the Romans did for them, right, But it's
Speaker 3: actually is remembered in Taiwan that people, you know, literacy
Speaker 3: rates skyrocketed under the Japanese. Sewage systems were installed, roads
Speaker 3: were installed, all this kind of thing. Up until the
Speaker 3: end of World War Two, China's ruled by the Nationalists
Speaker 3: the cormntane. Now, when the Civil war breaks out after
Speaker 3: the end of World War Two in nineteen forty five,
Speaker 3: at that point, Taiwan goes from being a Japanese colony
Speaker 3: to being ruled by the Republic of China. But within
Speaker 3: four years the Communists win the civil war. The Nationalist
Speaker 3: army retreats across the strait to Taiwan, and so for them,
Speaker 3: initially Taiwan is a base where Jiang Kai Chek is
Speaker 3: going to use to reclaim the mainland. For the people
Speaker 3: in Taiwan, their experience was World War II ended and
Speaker 3: they thought, ah, finally we're free of the Japanese, were
Speaker 3: free of our colonial overlord. We can be independent. But
Speaker 3: then in arrives this new force. And originally they were
Speaker 3: welcomed the Nationalists in nineteen forty five, but it wasn't
Speaker 3: long before the Nationalist army was imposing itself free violently
Speaker 3: on the Taiwanese. In came millions, literally millions of kmt
Speaker 3: Cormantang soldiers into Taiwan and then they dominated and ruled
Speaker 3: the society in a very authoritarian way right until the
Speaker 3: late nineteen eighties. So it's really complicated history, but it
Speaker 3: means that for people in Taiwan, even how Japan's seen,
Speaker 3: how the Communist Party is seen, depends so much on
Speaker 3: were you in Taiwan when the nationalist forces came in
Speaker 3: nineteen forty five and then searched in nineteen forty nine,
Speaker 3: or were you one of those who came from the
Speaker 3: mainland and from the Chinese Communist Party perspective, Taiwan is
Speaker 3: this base where their enemies fled, and it's this unfinished
Speaker 3: piece from the Civil War. So there's so much complicated
Speaker 3: history and some very raw emotions still about all this stuff.
Speaker 3: Like Australia and almost every other country, Taiwan has unofficial
Speaker 3: relations with Tokyo. Japan doesn't officially recognize it as an
Speaker 3: independent state. It recognizes Beijing. But there's real, I mean
Speaker 3: they call it people to people links, but in the
Speaker 3: Japanese Taiwan case, it's way more than that. There's I
Speaker 3: mean society to society, political party to political party. Partly
Speaker 3: because the Japanese ruled the place for fifty years.
Speaker 1: Coming up, how Donald Trump fits in and what Australia
Speaker 1: is supposed to be doing. The Australians published an opinion
Speaker 1: piece by the former Japanese Ambassador to Australia, Shingo Yamagami,
Speaker 1: in which he's very directly accusing Australia of not doing
Speaker 1: enough to support Japan as it tries to assert itself
Speaker 1: against China, particularly over this issue of Taiwan. This is
Speaker 1: all very delicate, and the Chinese regard any kind of
Speaker 1: mention of Taiwan as deeply provocative. What's Japan's kind of
Speaker 1: endgame here? And how could Australia possibly assist without making
Speaker 1: things kind of even more hot?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean it's a very interesting contribution from
Speaker 3: the former ambassador, and he's right that when he was
Speaker 3: the Japan's ambassador to Australia, I mean, he was really
Speaker 3: unusually vocal in his support for the Morrison government then
Speaker 3: and for Australia as it was being coerced by China.
Speaker 3: So he's saying, I mean, you could say, not unreasonably
Speaker 3: Japan stood up for Australia. Where are you now, Beijing?
Speaker 3: When it gets in these moods when it's being you know,
Speaker 3: waging a campaign of vengeance, you get involved or support
Speaker 3: in some ways that you're peril. Right, you can invite
Speaker 3: that same they sort of extend these economic coercion campaigns
Speaker 3: to others. I mean, I think, what's not helping Australia
Speaker 3: or any other country? And this is the Americans, right,
Speaker 3: Donald Trump, the American President, you know, one of the
Speaker 3: few figures in the international system who's got the power
Speaker 3: behind him to speak clearly to China on this kind
Speaker 3: of thing. He said nothing publicly to support Japan or
Speaker 3: even indicate any kind of support in this dispute. Far
Speaker 3: from it, He's actually spoke decision paying now. Then he
Speaker 3: spoke to Prime Minister Ta Keshi. In his conversation with
Speaker 3: she on the readout after it, he didn't mention at
Speaker 3: all any conversation about Japan or Taiwan. The Chinese then
Speaker 3: released that Taiwan wasn't just in the phone call, it
Speaker 3: was a dominant part of it. Took up almost half
Speaker 3: of their conversation, according to the Chinese. And then after
Speaker 3: the call with the Japanese Prime minister, the Japanese Prime
Speaker 3: Minister came out and said she'd had that call and
Speaker 3: gave a bit of an account of what they spoke about.
Speaker 3: But Trump said almost nothing about it. What is clear
Speaker 3: is there's no statement from the American president so far
Speaker 3: to give the Japanese Prime minister public support. And that's
Speaker 3: the world that you know. The Albanese government and all
Speaker 3: love American allies have to operate with them.
Speaker 1: Will Glasgow is The Australian's North Asia correspondent. You can
Speaker 1: read all his reporting anytime at the Australian dot com
Speaker 1: dot au