China's umbrage hypocritical

The extreme bias of Harijanto Soepangkat's letter Japanese remorse hypocritical on June 10 needs to be tempered. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi delivered another "remorseful" speech during the Asia-Africa Summit. In reality, it was one of more than a dozen over the last many years. The trips to the Yasukuni shrine wouldn't cause a stir if the shrine itself hadn't included those war criminals onto their list of war dead. That is where the shame lies.

We can applaud the Chinese vice premier's sense of political hypocrisy in succeeding to bamboozle the inept in their study of history. If one were to follow the last five decades of political and trade negotiations of the world with the Chinese government, one might realize that their stubbornness far surpasses all other known groups; they do not compromise. In fact, when faced with the wall, they often do precisely the opposite, sometimes saber rattling and have occasionally even moved in their military.

The facts here are that China cannot countenance the idea of Japan being a member of the Security Council; they have no intention of sharing East Asian gas fields, and, yes, Japan defends the U.S. on the Korean problem. China has been dragging its feet on this situation, which they could resolve, except for the fact that they are holding it over America's head until the U.S. gives in on Taiwan's democratic self-determination.

China's government is Asia's duplicitous rabid dragon.

BRIEN DOYLE Jakarta