In China's recent history, no country has done the greatest harm to our country than Japan. This island country, which has been friendly with China for more than two thousand years and even for a long time has regarded itself as a younger brother, has completely torn off its false veil of humility and courtesy and launched a huge war of aggression against our country and other countries in Asia.
According to statistics, after Japan embarked on the imperialist road, it has successively invaded more than fifty Asian countries and regions, including China, Korea, and South Korea, and its close neighbors across the sea. It can be said that Japan has committed deep sins for many Asian countries, causing too many casualties and property damage to be counted.
Japanese army
After the end of World War II, Japan, as the culprit and defeated country in the war, was naturally subject to severe sanctions by the international community, and the most direct way to do this was to demand economic compensation from Japan. After World War II, more than fifty countries demanded economic compensation from Japan for as much as $54 billion, including china, which naturally suffered the most.
But we all know that in the end our country did not receive this huge amount of reparations. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in 1972, Chairman Mao gave up the demand for 120 billion yuan in reparations. Seeing that many friends here will definitely ask questions, in that era, our country did not even completely solve the problem of food and clothing, how could such a decision be made? In fact, Chairman Mao's strategic wisdom full of far-sightedness has only been understood so far!
Japan signed the surrender ceremony
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > the "compensation scheme" cannot be unified, and the compensation matter is postponed again and again</h1>
After Japan announced its surrender, the Allied Powers, led by the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and Britain, set up a special compensation committee to be responsible for negotiating matters related to Japanese compensation. In order to put an end to the revival of Japanese militarism, the Commission decided to compensate the injured countries for the demolition of a large part of Japan's industrial equipment, with a total amount of US$54 billion. However, in this way, contradictions have emerged, and Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Australia and other countries all want to get more compensation, so they have been arguing endlessly and cannot reach a unified opinion.
As the country that suffered the most from the war, china offered to receive 40 percent of Japan's total reparations. In fact, this demand is very reasonable, and the damage caused by the war to our country is far more than this number. However, Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries did not agree to our reasonable demands, and only agreed that we would receive 30% compensation. Naturally, the National Government, which was representing my Government at the time, did not accept such an outcome, and the negotiations once again fell into a new round of quarrels and bargains.
Chiang Kai-shek
There has been no consensus on compensation, so it has been delayed. Shortly thereafter, Chiang Kai-shek launched a civil war, and there was no time to pay attention to the matter of compensation. After the founding of New China, the Western countries headed by the United States did not recognize the legitimate status of our country. In 1951, the United States convened a conference of allies in San Francisco, and it was infuriating that the United States went so far as to exclude my country from the list of meetings. However, the Chiang Kai-shek government in Taiwan accepted the suggestions and demands of the United States and expressed its willingness to sign a separate treaty with Japan.
In fact, at this time, Japan had completely become a vassal of the United States, and the reason why the United States later generously expressed its willingness to give up "compensation" was entirely due to a "rotten meat in the pot" mentality. Because for them, the United States has always been The United States, and the Japanese one has now become the United States.
Shigeru Tayoshi
With the support of the Americans, the Japanese were even bolder, and adopted a policy of delay in concluding a separate treaty with the Kuomintang government. It should be said that the Japanese are a country deeply influenced by Chinese culture, and finally they even played Sun Tzu's Art of War with us. The Yoshida government, which was ruling Japan at the time, also conducted a poll in Japan to hide its eyes and ears, and the theme was who the Japanese government had signed a treaty with, the Communist Party or the Kuomintang. The result is even more ridiculous, with the exact same proportion of support.
After the Yoshida government had such a clever excuse, it also spread rumors between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang from time to time in an attempt to provoke a resurgence of disputes between the two parties. However, in the end, the Kuomintang on the island of Taiwan did not calm down, and in order to achieve the purpose of concluding a treaty with Japan, it actually canceled the compensation claim in the contract. Chinese mainland expressed resolute opposition to this and resolutely refused to recognize this flattering and weak behavior of the Kuomintang regime in Taiwan.
Portraits of Stalin and Chairman Mao
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="34" > the international situation suddenly changed and was full of dangers</h1>
At the beginning of the founding of New China, as a socialist country, we naturally wanted to get closer to the Soviet Union. At the beginning of the founding of our country, the Soviet Union provided us with all-round assistance, whether in economic construction or defense and military, and the help of the Soviet Union to us is an undeniable reality.
However, there is no "free lunch" in the world, and the Soviet Union's help to our country is also selfish, that is, to let China be its eternal follower and little brother. During the honeymoon period at the beginning of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Soviet Union, although there were occasional small frictions and unhappiness between the two countries, Sino-Soviet relations were always friendly. The United States is quite dissatisfied with this, and they regard the newly founded new China as an enemy and have never recognized the legitimate status of our country in the international community.
Khrushchev
However, with the death of Stalin and the rise of Khrushchev to power, Sino-Soviet relations began to become delicate and tense. Those were the most dangerous and difficult times for China, facing two of the world's most powerful countries, the United States and the Soviet Union. At that time, we could say that we were in danger on the international stage, and we were in danger of unprecedented isolation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="35" > Dong and Sun Quan, and Cao Cao in the north, showing the wisdom of a great man with great foresight</h1>
In the 1970s, the U.S.-Soviet struggle for hegemony entered the second stage. The Soviet Union, with its strong military strength, entered a stage of total suppression, while the United States at this time appeared to be much more low-key and in a passive defensive state. At this time, the three great powers of China, the United States and the Soviet Union resembled the Three Kingdoms Era in Chinese history more than a thousand years ago.
The powerful and domineering Soviet Union is like the ambitious Cao Cao, while the United States is Sun Quan who dares to confront Cao Cao. At that time, China's strength was the weakest, just like Liu Bei, who had not yet entered Sichuan. How to survive the struggle for hegemony between the two superpowers has become an urgent problem.
Chairman Mao
At this time, Chairman Mao, who was familiar with Chinese history and was good at seeking ways from history, made a major decision, that is, to ease relations with the United States, and U.S. President Richard Nixon, who had just come to power at this time, also realized the same problem.
At the beginning, China and the United States eased relations through some special people and special methods, such as letting the famous American writer Snow act as a messenger and inviting the American table tennis team to visit China. Later, the visit of Dr. Kissinger, special envoy of the US President, to China cleared the final obstacle to the meeting between the leaders of China and the United States. On February 21, 1972, Nixon, then US President, flew to China on a special plane "Air Force One", and Sino-US relations entered a new era.
Many people may think that after Nixon's visit to China, China and the United States established diplomatic relations, and that Sino-US diplomatic relations were established before The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. In fact, this is an illusion, after Nixon's visit to China, Sino-US relations did ease a lot, but the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries was on January 1, 1979. Prior to this, on September 29, 1972, diplomatic relations had been established between China and Japan.
Kakuei Tanaka
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" > "Is the quarrel over?" "The world is too peaceful." </h1>
Seeing that Sino-US relations have actually been eased, the Japanese cannot sit still. In fact, before the Sino-US leaders' meeting, Sino-Japanese relations had already quietly changed. After years of contacts and diplomatic mediation, on September 25, 1972, Kakuei Tanaka, then Prime Minister of Japan, finally took an important step and became the first prime minister to visit China after World War II.
Premier Zhou said: "Kakuei Tanaka is braver than Nixon." "Because Tanaka Kakuei's visit confirmed the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries." Compared with the meeting between the leaders of China and the United States, the diplomatic achievements between China and Japan are obviously greater and more practical. Kakuei Tanaka dared to make such a major decision only 84 days after coming to power, which can be said to be unique among the japanese prime ministers after World War II, and Tanaka Kakuei was indeed a courageous politician.
Kakuei Tanaka and his eldest daughter, Makiko Tanaka
Of course, the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan was not smooth sailing, and it was also the result of many rounds of negotiations and debates. At the heart of the debate are two issues, one is the Taiwan issue, and the other is the issue of war reparations. After the negotiations, Chairman Mao humorously asked Tanaka Kakuei, "Is the quarrel over?" Kakuei Tanaka smiled a little reservedly, "The quarrel is over, the quarrel is over." Hearing this, the chairman laughed and said, "The world is too peaceful." The atmosphere, which had seemed a little tense, suddenly became relaxed.
Later, in order to consolidate the results of the negotiations, the chairman decided not to ask Japan for war reparations anymore, and wrote this article into the Sino-Japanese Joint Communiqué. Many people will ask, why did the President do this? After all, for China at that time, this was a lot of money.
First of all, from a diplomatic point of view, although Japan was a defeated country in World War II, its post-war economic development was still good, and Japan was also a very influential country in Asia at that time. If we don't manage our relationship with Japan and the United States behind it well, then our isolation on the international stage will not be alleviated. However, it costs to interact with people, so the chairman's abandonment of the demand for war reparations from Japan shows an attitude and pattern.
Second, even if we insist on asking for reparations, Japan will not compensate us with too much substance. We can draw conclusions on this point from the way Japan compensates countries such as Indonesia. For compensation, Japan only took some waste equipment to convert the money. Instead of getting some scrap copper and rotten iron of little value, it is better to be generous about nothing.
Moreover, Chairman Mao was a great man of compassion for heaven and man, and the humiliation of China for a hundred years, the old man was both a witness and a witness. War reparations, in the final analysis, it is the common people who pay the bills. He did not want to make ordinary innocent Japanese people experience the same pain and exploitation as Chinese because of the reparations. If the reparations are waived, the Japanese people will certainly be very grateful to China, so that the economic and cultural exchanges between China and Japan will be more frequent.
Based on the above three aspects, Chairman Mao finally decided to exempt Japan from war reparations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > great man's wisdom, which has only been understood so far</h1>
History proves that Chairman Mao's decision was wise and far-sighted. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, relations have been greatly improved, and we have more courage in the face of the aggressiveness of the Soviet Union. After China's reform and opening up, many famous Japanese enterprises have come to China to invest, and the economic and cultural exchanges between China and Japan are frequent, providing a good international environment for China's economic development.