That their views were formed by their countries’ experience in WWII is not in doubt. Their defensiveness against a world that does not understand the significance of their experience is not in doubt. What is missing here is their status as deeply ethnonationalist. Xi is the ultimate Han chauvinist, intent on recreating his state as a culturally monolithic Han state by stamping out any other languages and cultures within China than Han culture (and history). Putin is willing to massacre Ukrainians or anyone else who stands in the way of his Great Russian state. (His attitude to non-Great Russians is clear from his comments on local ethnic languages and his habit of throwing people from those ethnicities into the Ukraine war.) For both, their vision revolves around a strong ethnonationalist state.
It was a grave mistake to allow Japan a free pass for it's war crimes, and trying to re-habillitate their reputation with Pikachu and Hello Kitty doesn't hold any water with those who remember, and those who recognize the same xenophobia and toxic attitudes today.
Excellent insight. Thanks 🙏.
An excellent essay, gentlemen. Thank you, I added a link to the further reading list in this:
https://chinaheritage.net/journal/70-20-10-and-the-parading-of-lies-in-beijing-on-3-september-2025/
That their views were formed by their countries’ experience in WWII is not in doubt. Their defensiveness against a world that does not understand the significance of their experience is not in doubt. What is missing here is their status as deeply ethnonationalist. Xi is the ultimate Han chauvinist, intent on recreating his state as a culturally monolithic Han state by stamping out any other languages and cultures within China than Han culture (and history). Putin is willing to massacre Ukrainians or anyone else who stands in the way of his Great Russian state. (His attitude to non-Great Russians is clear from his comments on local ethnic languages and his habit of throwing people from those ethnicities into the Ukraine war.) For both, their vision revolves around a strong ethnonationalist state.
It was a grave mistake to allow Japan a free pass for it's war crimes, and trying to re-habillitate their reputation with Pikachu and Hello Kitty doesn't hold any water with those who remember, and those who recognize the same xenophobia and toxic attitudes today.