China not perfect but not rabid

I feel compelled to rebuke with indignation the brusque and harsh comments made by Brien Doyle in his letter to The Jakarta Post on June 20, titled China's umbrage hypocritical, which contained unfounded and extremely biased comments that China's government is Asia duplicitous rabid dragon.

He should know that Yasukuni is not only a shrine that worships Class A and Class B war criminals, but is also a militarism "museum" with exhibits of war materials and propaganda exhorting militarism.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi canceled her meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi because she had been "humiliated" as one day before and during her trip in Japan, Koizumi had reconfirmed his wish to continue visiting Yasukuni and his ministers continued to deny the nation's war atrocities, such as the massacre of 300,000 Chinese in Nanjing.

On the East China Sea, despite China's rightful claim to the East Asian Sea gas/oil field, based on the internationally accepted law of the sea on continental shelves, China has offered joint exploration and exploitation, whereas Japan's claim is based on a median line from a disputed territory

As for the Chinese military, Andrew Scobell, associate research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College, after study and investigation of the actual records of China's use of force over the past half-century, concludes in his recent book titled China's Use of Military Force that there is a cult of defense in Chinese strategic culture.

Henry Kissinger wrote in the International Herald Tribune of June 9 that military imperialism is not the Chinese style, Chinese seeks its objectives by careful study, patience and accumulation of nuances, and that the Chinese state in its present dimension has existed for 2,000 years.

Concerning Taiwan, Brien Doyle could spare his energy as the Chinese people and leaders on both sides are wise enough to learn from their long history of 5,000 years of union and disunion to settle their present dispute. Lien's and Song's recent trips to China confirmed this wisdom. The independence activists led by Lee Teng-hui of SDU are no more than 8 percent of Taiwan and the majority of Taiwanese prefers the status quo with increasing contacts with mainland China.

For more than 2,000 years of human recorded history, East Asia, with a predominant China with a pacifist culture, has seen more peace and prosperity and less war compared with Europe and elsewhere.

SIA KA-MOU

Jakarta