MERSING CHRONICLES

Chapter 4 The Pool

JAPAN SHIFTS EAST!

Tokyo, Straits Times, November 30th, 2039

China's President Shih Huang Tee and Japan's Prime Minister Jinsho Hashimoto has signed a cooperation pact defining a 5-point terms of engagement between the two East Asian powers.

The countries have had a Free Trade Agreement for the last five years, and are determined to expand their cooperation beyond trade. The five points are:

· Explore areas of military cooperation,

· Renounce territorial disputes and maintain the status quo until such disputes could be resolved by an independent body set up by the United Nations, members of whom would be agreeable to both nations,

· Improve bilateral cooperation in the following areas of research: Artificial Intelligence, Space propulsion systems, quantum computers, nuclear fusion, and agriculture.

· Resolve all issues outstanding from World War 2 where Japan would negotiate an acceptable reparation to China for its invasion of its territory, and the suffering inflicted on the Chinese people, and

· Renounce acts of aggression against each other

The 5-point Terms of Engagement had been in the planning and discussion stage for the past 5 years, with talks occurring at ministerial levels. Japan's Minister of Defence, Keizo Akura, reinforced that this is not a military pact or an alliance, but a way for both nations to move forward beyond their painful history of past aggressions. "Rather than throw stones at each other and maintain the confrontative posture which had been ongoing since 1949, Japan is willing to embrace our neighbour to the west and build upon a new era of Asian cooperation," Minister Akura said.

Since acquiring nuclear weapons capability in 2036, Japan had amassed a number of ICBMs of its own, each capable of delivering 5 megaton nuclear warheads to the continental United States, and Canada to the East, and Russia, China, and Eastern Europe, to the West. Relations with the West had been deteriorating in recent years during the premiership of PM Hashimoto who is of the view the Japanese people would be better served by growing closer to its Asian neighbour.

In response, the Whitehouse issued a statement reiterating the concern that Japan should remain within the Western Alliance where it had enjoyed significant protection and security of its borders for the past 98 years. While Japan had expelled American bases from its territory in 2037, it had yet to renounce the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan which commits the US to defend Japan in the event of an armed attack against Japan. "China is a communist nation which has no democratic foundation where the will of the people is followed. However, Japan is a democratic society and is more in tune with the Western Alliance than a communist power. We hope PM Hashimoto will understand the fundamental issues at stake when he collaborates with China," the statement emphasized.

25 years ago

EYEWITNESS TO THE BATTLE OF MERSING: 4 MONTHS ON PAKU ISLAND

Singapore Times journalist Evelyn Lee spent 4 months in the early days of World War 3 on a deserted island 50 km off the Malaysian coast, an ally of the US that was invaded on the first day of the war by the combined navies of China and Japan. In an interview with Ginny Stewart, she gave an account of those months on Paku Island. Part 1: The First Two weeks.

The New Yorker Magazine, March 2, 2055.

I visited Evelyn Lee in Singapore early this year at her Singapore Times office. Who, you may wonder, is Evelyn Lee?