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Key points in this article:

• China is doing more than the U.S. to increase Japan’s GDP
• Global enterprises looking for profit ended up supporting Nazi Germany’s invasions
• Global enterprises must foresee political risks, think about world justice and value patriotism

 
The Asian economy, which has consistently been under American influence since WWII, is now being swallowed up by China.

According to Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, statistics from 2015 show that Japan’s trade is becoming China-reliant. If each country’s final demand (investments and consumption) rises by 1% from the 2015 data, China will have contributed more to Japan’s GDP increase than the U.S.: China’s contribution being USD2.8 billion compared to the U.S.’s contribution of USD2.7 billion. By 2030 Japan and South-East Asia’s economic reliance on China will top America by 40%, and Asia will be under the dominance of China.

China is now expanding its military, and trade reliance on such a country will bring with it greater political risks.

The American consultation company Eurasia Group has published a list of the top 10 risks of 2018. It put China’s expanding influence at number one, and even suggested how the world can respond to it.

Perhaps the greatest lesson can be learnt from Nazi Germany. The factor that led to the Nazi invasion of Europe was the appeasement policy that arose from the other nations’ fear of war.

In later years, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill admitted in his memoirs entitled “The Second World War” that the appeasement policy was a failure. He said that, had they not taken the appeasement route and instead crushed Hitler immediately, WWII could have been prevented.

Global Enterprises and the Nazis

That is not all. The Nazi invasion would not have happened if global enterprises had not been blind for profit and aided the Nazi’s financially.

Ford Motors, one of America’s Big Three automotive companies, used to make 40% of Germany’s military vehicles. General Motors made parts used in the German air force Junkers Ju-88 and Messerschmitt Me 262. Another infamous item is the tabulating machine, a punch card system developed by IBM and sold to Germany, which made it possible to input national census data to determine who were Jews. This device made it possible for the Nazis to commit genocide.

At the time, the U.S. was openly neutral towards the Nazis, but underneath they had struck various investment and machine import deals. These moves brought huge profits for American companies, but ended up supporting the Nazi invasions.

Why Companies Must Have Patriotism

Back to the present: Japan-China relations are far from healthy and there is a high likelihood that they will engage in some sort of military clash in the near future. Just like the Nazi invasion plan, China is trying to seize control over the South and East China Seas, and their intention to invade Taiwan is very clear.

That being the case, global enterprises that are expanding into China could well be indirectly supporting China’s invasion plans. Of course, that is not to say that all transactions with China will end up financially supporting China’s military ambitions. However, business managers and presidents must foresee political risks, and proactively choose the path of global justice.

Japanese companies must also drop enterprises that may, in the long run, end up harming people. This is the sort of patriotism that companies must adopt, which is also known as mindfulness.

Our global society calls for companies to have a healthy level of patriotism and think about the interests of their country. This need is growing stronger day-by-day to prevent Asia’s economy from having to bow down to China.