Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　　　　　On September 3, the Chinese government plans to hold a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War. People's Liberation Army troops are scheduled to blare out the sound of military shoes then at the Tiananmen Square that once absorbed the blood of many young people calling for freedom and democracy. Reviewing such parade would be similar to tolerating Neo-Nazi militants parading in Auschwitz known for Jewish concentration camps. Major countries other than Russia and South Korea have refrained from sending top leaders to the ceremony, indicating that the international community has demonstrated the minimum wisdom.

Today’s China represents typical fascism
　　　　　The word of fascism or fascists has been abused for politically labeling rulers or governments. The word has been frequently used to simply mean violent or dictatorial. If fascism is strictly defined, however, it could be a useful concept for analysis.
　　　　　In the 1920s, Italy's Benito Mussolini put forward fascism as the Third Way different from communism or capitalism. The third way meant that he would adopt the nationalistic dictatorship and utilize capitalistic energy to vitalize oppressive regime. Germany's Adolf Hitler also tried to maintain the competition principle while cartelizing major industries. In this respect fascism, though being oppressive, differed from communism. (By the way, fascism was combined with abnormal racism to result in Nazism, which was coupled with disastrous external expansionism to bring about Hitlerism.)
　　　　　Based on this definition, China can be interpreted as having shifted to fascism from Mao Zedong's primitive communism when it adopted socialist market economy under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. From the political science viewpoint, it is incomprehensible for the Chinese government to advocate anti-fascism.
　　　　　Meanwhile University of Wisconsin Professor Emeritus Stanley Payne, an authoritative scholar on fascism, while admitting some fascist features of prewar Japan, noted Japan differed greatly from Germany in that Japan had no continuous dictatorship, limited social radicalization and had no concentration camps for anti-government dissidents.

Fascism vs. Democracy
　　　　　Japan made a grave mistake regarding an external propaganda warfare when it was dazzled with Germany's successful blitzkrieg and formed an alliance with Germany and Italy in September 1940. Japan's formation of the alliance virtually against only the United States further hardened the opinion of American political establishment against Japan and helped the world simply view World War II as a war between fascism and democracy. The lesson Japan should learn from history is that the country should not ally with grossly immoral partners.
　　　　　In the United States that plans to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping in the latter half of September, Republican presidential candidates are calling on the White House not to give state guest treatment to the top leader of the dictatorial government continuing cyberattacks, maritime aggressive expansion and human rights suppression. Particularly, Senator Marco Rubio has emphasized human rights protection and vowed to invite Chinese dissidents to his presidential inauguration if he wins the election. Cooperation with such Reagan conservatives is what Japanese politicians should adopt in a forward-looking manner.

Yoichi Shimada is Planning Committee Member, Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, and Professor at Fukui Prefectural University.