Regarding the Dec. 15 feature article “Kim purge puts world on alert”: I vividly remember the tense atmosphere that often existed in Japan amid the Cold War, when we would be intimidated by news of Russian fighters intruding on our territory. We’d worry about the Kremlin’s every movement and intention.
The greater part of the Self- Defense Force troops used to be deployed in Hokkaido so as to encounter a possible invasion.
Now it seems that the Chinese government is trying to create the same tense atmosphere in the East China Sea and to demonstrate a hard-liner attitude toward neighboring countries, apparently to alleviate the frustrations increasingly expressed by its own citizens in anti-government movements. (Is North Korea’s purge a show also?)
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.