I have to say that modern Japan is really lucky, this luck, not only to point out that after the successful Restoration Japan became the first and only yellow power in modern Asia, but also this luck continued after World War II.
World War 2 completely put an end to the madness of Japanese militarism, and Japan, which had invaded China, swept through Southeast Asia, and attacked the United States, ended in failure, and after the cornered Japan announced its unconditional surrender, the Japanese archipelago fell under the control of the Americans.
Japan, which once frantically clamoured for "100 million jade pieces," has completely become a small recipient for American soldiers to rub and knead round. Concerned about Japan's madness during World War II, the United States initially planned to completely eradicate Japan's industrial system in order to completely eliminate Japan's war potential.
However, just as Japan was completely deindustrialized and lost its war potential, the Korean War broke out in 1950. This became the most critical lifesaver for Japanese industry.
Japan was on the verge of economic collapse because of the outbreak of the Korean War, and with its unique geographical advantages, it became a logistics base for the United Nations forces led by the United States. As a result, Japan not only got rid of its deindustrialization actions, but was also conditionally rearmed by the United States.
The most important thing is that Japan's former industrial system finally has a place to play - because of the Korean War, the United States gave it a huge arms order, so that Japan's industrial strength did not decline but increased. Moreover, Japan has made a qualitative leap in industry, and it is no longer the poor imperialism of the past, and Japan's industry has made tremendous progress with the orders and help of the United States.
And that's not all, after the initial take-off of Japan's economy and industry, another 10 years later, the Vietnam War broke out. The Vietnam War lasted longer than the Korean War, cost the United States heavier and shed more blood, and as a result, orders from the United States were more durable and exaggerated.
It can be said that it was thanks to the massive orders from the United States in the Vietnam War that Japan's industry completely laid the foundation for take-off, which also laid the most crucial foundation for Japan's economic miracle and its leap to become the world's second largest industrial economy.
Of course, Japan's luck was not limited to this, not only because of the large number of orders from the United States during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, which led to the industrial and economic take-off, but also because it was extremely lucky even in terms of territory.
The culprits of World War 2 were three fascist countries, the most wasted of which Italy, jumped back in 1943 and joined the Allies, so the territory was basically preserved.
Germany, the strongest of the fascist countries, was once divided into four at the moment of defeat and surrender. Even after the outbreak of the Cold War, Germany was divided in two, divided for half a century, only to seize the golden opportunity to reunite after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Even so, Germany permanently lost more than 100,000 square kilometers of territory. Because after the victory in World War II, under the auspices of the Soviet Union, Poland's territory moved almost 100 kilometers eastward, and the territory of Poland's eastward expansion all came from the territory of the former Germany.
Therefore, although Germany was the strongest fascist during World War II, Germany was also beaten the most viciously. In this regard, Japan is still the luckiest one. As the last fascist state to surrender, Japan was not divided and occupied by multiple allies like Germany, but it also suffered little loss of territory.
The Japanese archipelago, the mainland of Japan, remains intact. Moreover, in order to strengthen its occupation of Japan, the United States even tore up its previous plans to occupy Japan separately, including China.
Moreover, according to the Cairo Declaration and the Bostan Proclamation signed during World War II, Japan was required to give up all lands acquired by its aggression and to retain only its native Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku.
In other words, according to the international order formed by World War II, the Ryukyu Islands, which are now occupied by Japan, are not actually Japanese territory in the legal sense.
However, in 1970, 25 years after the victory in World War II, under the control of the United States, the United States and Japan signed the so-called "United States-Japan San Francisco Agreement", and the United States privately granted and handed over the Ryukyu Islands that should have been returned to China to Japan, and Japan stole the Ryukyu Islands.
It can be said that under the private approval and manipulation of the United States, Japan not only escaped punishment as the perpetrator of World War II, but even expanded its territory - bringing the Ryukyu Islands under de facto control. Of course, China has never recognized the private offer of the United States, and the sovereignty of the Ryukyu Islands has never been determined.
How important is the strategic position of the Ryukyu Islands? Anyone who looks at the map will see that the Ryukyu Islands, located between the Japanese archipelago and the island of Taiwan in China, are the core of the first island chain of the United States blockade of China. This is the key reason why the US military in Japan will station most of its troops in the Ryukyu Islands.
It can be said that the Ryukyu Islands control China's communication artery to the Pacific Ocean, and are also a key node for the Chinese Navy to go to the ocean. The Ryukyu Islands are of great strategic importance to China.
Moreover, both historically and in the order established by World War II, Ryukyu is an undoubted part of China, which has also been recognized by the allies of World War II.
Although Japan annexed the Ryukyu Islands at the end of the 19th century, the United States has noticed the status of the Ryukyu Islands as a barrier to the Japanese mainland since the outbreak of World War II, especially after the outbreak of the Pacific War.
After learning about the history of the Ryukyu Islands, in November 1943, during the Cairo Conference held in Egypt, US President Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek, who also attended the meeting, had a famous conversation about the Ryukyu Islands.
At that time, both Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek believed that Japan's seizure of northeast China, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands should be returned to China after the war. As for the Ryukyu Islands, when Roosevelt asked how to deal with them, Chiang Kai-shek actually replied: China is willing to jointly occupy the Ryukyu Islands by China and the United States, and in the future, international institutions will entrust China and the United States to jointly manage them.
In the second year, January 12, 1944, at the 44th meeting of the Pacific War Council held at the White House, Roosevelt recalled that Stalin also knew the history of the Ryukyu Islands, and Stalin fully agreed to return the Ryukyu Islands to China.
Originally, this was a great opportunity to recover the Ryukyu Islands. However, Chiang Kai-shek, who was an insider in the civil war and a layman in foreign war, repeatedly refused, and finally after the victory in World War II, the Ryukyu Islands were not returned to China, but were placed under the trusteeship of the United States.
This also deprived China of the most critical time point in the recovery of the Ryukyu Islands. Because immediately after the Liberation War, and then Chiang Kai-shek's defeat in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek, who was defeated all the way and was unable to take care of the Ryukyu Islands, which eventually led to the United States giving them to Japan in 1970.
Of course, New China has never recognized all this, nor has it ever recognized the so-called Ryukyu Islands under the trusteeship of the United States and Japan. Originally, China's diplomacy was about Taoguang and kindness, and although it never acknowledged it, China did not regard the Ryukyu Islands as a means of pinching Japan.
However, China's goodwill is often seen by Japan as a weakness and retreat, and now, in the face of China's rise, Japan has even begun to play the Taiwan card, repeatedly calling for challenges to China's bottom line when China is about to complete its territorial unification.
Recently, Japan has not only followed its American masters in the international community, frequently made a big fuss about China, and even clearly characterized China as the biggest strategic challenge in its latest so-called blue diplomatic blue book.
As for Japan's consistent clamoring for "the theory of the China threat," "being tough on China on the Taiwan Strait issue," and "not allowing China to liberate Taiwan," and so on, it is even more infuriating.
In the face of Japan's frequent clamor and provocation, China finally no longer endured it. Just two days ago, according to Japan's "Ryukyu Shinpao", after Ambassador Wu Jianghao, the Chinese ambassador to Japan, arrived in Japan, the second-in-command of Okinawa Prefecture, Yoshimi Teruya, took the initiative to visit the door, and the two people also held a closed-door meeting in the embassy.
At this meeting, Teruya Yoshimi briefed the Chinese side on the upcoming regional diplomatic office of Okinawa Prefecture, and also conveyed the governor of Okinawa Prefecture's intention to visit China in July.
This move is obviously not just an ordinary act of a local official visiting another country's embassy. Because in theory, neither the regional diplomatic office set up in Okinawa Prefecture nor the willingness of the governor of Okinawa Prefecture to visit China can be decided by a regional governor alone, and this involves diplomatic power.
This time, in the face of the initiative of local officials in Okinawa Prefecture, China did not politely refuse or hide it, but let the news report it publicly. Obviously, for the idea of Okinawa prefectural officials bypassing the Japanese government's engagement with China, China can justifiably play the "Ryukyu card."
Above all, we are right: according to the Cairo Declaration and the Bostan Proclamation signed in World War II, the Ryukyu Islands were never Japanese territory, and the sovereignty of the Ryukyu Islands was not owned by Japan, and it was supposed to return to China.
Even if the United States privately granted control of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan, does it not mean that China does not recognize this, and as far as the facts are concerned, Japan only has the right to control the Ryukyu Islands, but not sovereignty.
Therefore, there is nothing illegal in Teruya's actions, and even the independence of Ryukyu that the Ryukyuan people are pursuing today is completely taken for granted, and Japan has no right to stop it.
Of course, as a defeated country in World War II, Japan, which has not yet fully restored its sovereignty, does not have the courage and ability to challenge the international order, but with Japan's consistent ambitions, it has naturally had the idea of completely annexing the Ryukyu Islands, and it has been put into practice.
Today, more than 90% of the Ryukyu Islands are descendants of the Japanese, and less than 10% of the native Ryukyuan people are a blatant expression of Japan's ambitions. But that doesn't mean that Ryukyu cards are unplayable.
Not to mention that the Ryukyu independence movement, which has recently become increasingly influential, will inevitably be more difficult to deal with the Ryukyu issue in the Ryukyu Islands, which is of great strategic importance, once China intervenes.
Moreover, Japan's loss of the Ryukyu Islands is not only a loss of land, but also means that the first island chain of the United States and Japan to blockade China will be completely broken. Therefore, for Japan, they dare not lose the Ryukyu Islands in any way, which also means that if China plays the Ryukyu card, Japan will also have a more painful embodiment.