I don't know which is worse: Pedro Penduco's rant against "white men" in his June 23 letter, "West wants China at its disposal," or The Japan Times' decision to print such a racist screed. I doubt that Penduco's letter would have seen the light of day if it had been so openly hostile toward any other racial group.
Penduco claims the Chinese have "never ventured out of their traditional boundaries unless threatened by external forces." I'm sure many in Tibet would disagree. China intervened in the Korean War, though it was never under any real threat of attack. And when Chinese troops breached Indian territory in 1962, was that due to an external Indian threat? If Penduco believes so, I've got a bridge I'd love to sell him.
As for Penduco's oversimplified assessment of the Middle East situation — specifically, blaming "the West" for basically everything wrong there — I choose not to get myself started.
As for Africa, Penduco conveniently forgets that Africans were enslaving each other long before the first "evil white man" ever arrived. Africans were not captured in nets by white men in hot pursuit — usually, they were sold into slavery by other Africans! Penduco blames it all on the "white man," but in truth, there's much more blame than that to go around.
The nonwhite, non-Western world has produced many of recent history's most despotic and corrupt rulers.
Penduco's rant about "white men's greed" notwithstanding, he can surely find plenty of greed, corruption and human exploitation right in his own Philippines.
Or is that the fault of the "white man," too?
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.