"Scott Reynolds" <sar@gol.com> wrote in message

> You think that anti-Japan government propaganda is the *effect* of
> anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese and Korean *young* people, rather
> than a major cause of it?

You're the one that says there is an anti-Japanese sentiment against the
young people. I have said that was, in my opinion, an extremist thing. The
situation has been different, but I think that -especially for China- the
government does 1/4  of hour of monthly indignation about Japanese textbooks
and Yasukuni touring as a "token", in hope that will calm a little the
hooligans and old nutsoes.
The reason why I think it's *unsincere* indignation is that the same
governments spend the rest of the month having an active and concrete
pro-Japanese policy. Chinese government, for instance, has not firmly asked
to Koizumi to stop the Yasukuni thing. They perfectly realize that others
could ask the closing or at least the end of official visits to the Mao
sanctuary on Tian An Men square, etc...Nobody serious wants to make a war of
it.

> Here again you seem to have things backwards.

Because we've not studied propaganda together. But well, that changes
nothing. You have no argument on the matter. Japan, in a certain period, had
to be on the US side vs the Communist block. It had by will or by force. And
I don't say that was a bad thing. I don't think the Japanese should have
been to kiss the bums of the Communist dictators to appologize for doing in
37 what such dictators were still doing.

> Look, the Chinese government does not have to "campaign and get the
> votes of" any lobbies. If they did they would have been thrown out of
> power a long time ago.

You have an ideal and irrealistic vision of Chinese politics. Even guys like
Louis XIV had to deal with lobbies and factions. Dozens, hundreds,
thousands...of Chinese politicians, even top leaders, have been thrown out
of power. That happens all the time. Of course, for you that makes no
difference, but that matters for the Chinese minister that will be ejected
if he doesn't manage to keep the hooligans out of touristic streets of Pekin
(which makes the rich merchants get upset for the loss of business, so
they'll use bribes and connections to get rid of him). Ask anybody doing any
business in China how things work.
It seems that, at least in the rich North, governement can no longer jail
them all, shot them all or crash them with tanks to have the peace. That'd
be bad for business.
Also, the general public acceptation of governmental reaction against
hooligans/extremists/etc varies depending the cause the extremists say they
defend. That makes less noise to arrest all the Falung Gong (sp?) and the
resistant of an ethnic minority in the mountains than a bunch of  guys
screaming "We love China..." with certainly  a few senile war heros among
them.
New religion sects or anarchists terros rarely get a large sympathy, but you
don't repress that easily those that call themselves nationalists. In any
country.

CC