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April 12, 2005

Inflammatory? 煽動？

Coming Anarchy argues that mainland China's sense of patriotism is newfound and stoked by the CCP. Simon calls Hong Kong's plan to hold anti-Japanese rallies “an effort to catch the populist wave.” Both, in essence, are suggesting that the radical anti-Japanese sentiments being witnessed are the result of an authoritarian regime fueling the flames, and that people living outside said authoritarianism are joining in merely so that they don't look unpatriotic.

I can't argue the invalidity of their premises, but I can certainly say that it isn't the full picture. In 1970, it was overseas Chinese and Hong Kong citizens, living outside of the yoke of the Communists or the prostration of the Kuomintang to its dwindling allies, who started the protect-Diaoyutai movement. In 1996, the exercise in sovereignty at Diaoyutai that lead to the death of David Chan Yuk-cheung was organized by people in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

And GlobalSecurity.org has this to say about the situation on the mainland in 1996:

At the height of a period of increased political tension in mid-1996 between China and Japan regarding sovereignty over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, the Government forced longtime anti-Japanese activist Tong Zeng to depart Beijing for a 2-week trip to Gansu province. The Government imposed heavy ideological controls on political discourse at colleges, universities, and research institutes. In September 1996, for example, authorities closed computer bulletin boards at universities in Beijing when students began using the Internet to urge government action in defense of Chinese sovereignty claims over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands.

Indeed, the response from the mainland, both the government and the populace, was comparatively muted.

Has the PRC government found a “safety valve” in nationalism to release some of the resentment within its population? Yes, that's probably true. But does everything have to pin back to Tiananmen 1989? I'm not so convinced.

PS: EastSouthWestNorth has an in-depth analysis on the historical revisionism being pushed by the Japanese ultra-right, and agrees with me that you can't pin it all down on the government.

Coming Anarchy稱中國大陸的愛國情緒是近年來才出現，更是中共煽動的結果。香港計畫舉行反日遊行，Simon說：「這是為了跟隨民間熱潮。」兩者都認為極端反日情緒是專制政權煽動的結果，而身在該政權外的人是因為群眾壓力才加入行列。

我不能直接反駁他們的說法，但是我肯定這是整個故事的一小部分。一九七零年的保釣運動是由海外華僑和香港同胞所發動的。他們不受中共壓制，又不受國民黨向剩下的盟國的屈服所影響。一九九六年，導致陳毓祥為國捐驅的釣魚台宣示主權行動，亦是台港同胞安排的。

GlobalSecurity.org更對一九九六年大陸的情況有以下的評價：

在一九九六年中，中日關係到了最緊張的時候，中國政府逼使長期反日運動者童增離開北京，往甘肅省逗留兩週。政府更在大學、學院、研究所等等設立嚴厲的言論控制，例如該年九月，當學生利用互聯網勸政府採取行動宣示中國在釣島的主權，當局就關閉了北京內大學的網上研討板。

當年大陸政府及人民的反應的確比香港和台灣的反應較為低調。

中共政府有可能正在利用民族主義來讓民間發洩一些怨氣，但是我不相信一切都可以歸咎於六四事件及中共為了防止事件再度重演所立下的政策。

後記：東南西北對日本極右勢力的歷史刪改陰謀有深入的分析，更認同我的說法，認為這件事情不可以完全歸咎於中共的政策。

Posted by Kelvin at April 12, 2005 11:26 AM

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