Illegal Immigration

Neo-Libertarian expresses disappointment over the recent federal crack down on Wal-Mart for employing illegal aliens. He (or she) realizes that "immigration is still often a crime," but thinks that it "shouldn't be so heavily punished."

Implicit in NL's discussion is a dichotomy between the law as stated and the law as applied. As stated, illegal immigration is most certainly "still" a crime. As applied, its criminal status is more questionable. That's why NL points out the hypocrisy of cracking down on Wal-Mart for hiring illegal immigrants when the US government won't stop them from coming into the country in the first place. The porous borders, driver's licenses, and other benefits illegal aliens get seems to suggest that illegal entry is not in fact illegal.

What bothers me about NL's post is that it seems to advocate a further separation between law as stated and applied. Immigration is "still often a crime," but it should be punished even less than it is now. The result would be an even wider gap between what the law says and what law enforcement officials do.

Granted, a gap often exists in various areas of the law. But is that a good thing? And do we want to advocate such a thing? I don't think so. I think it does harm to the integrity of the legal system to have major laws that are virtually un-enforced. This is especially true when the majority of citizens favor vigorous enforcement (as I believe they do here).

As long as immigration laws are enacted on the basis of legitimate constitutional powers, and as long as the majority truly wants them enforced, it strikes me as a bad idea to advocate virtual non-enforcement. And I would say that equally with respect to laws I hate and those I like. If the law is constitutional and the people want it, the government should enforce it.

Japan Poll

No mention of Iraq, but support for Prime Minister Koizumi is rising, and 67 percent of respondents said Japan needs the U.S.-proposed missile defense system.

Japanese Film Festival in Afghanistan

Belmont Club might want to add the following to its list of positive signals.

The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun (Japanese only) reports that the Japanese Embassy in Kabul has organized the first Japanese film festival since the fall of the Taliban. It will run for 5 days, and a number of films will be shown.

Apparently, Oshidari Akiko, a deaf Japanese actress, is starring in a movie ("I Love Peace") dealing with NGOs in Afghanistan. She went to Kabul for the opening and spoke (through sign language) to a gathering of about 200 people prior to the start of the movie.

Japan to Designate China as Military Threat

As discussed in previous posts, Japan's recovery has been driven largely by exports to China. At the same time, Japan's exports are helping to fuel China's rising military and economic strength. This, in turn, is feeding China's aggressive appetite for oil and other strategic resources to which Japan feels it has a claim. Thus, the same exports driving Japan's recovery in the short term may, through a circuitous route, be helping to create its next major threat. Now, in a highly significant move, an advisory panel to Japan's prime minister is going to recommend that China be viewed as a potential military threat for the first time. This is just the kind of symbolic gesture that is sure to piss the Chinese off.

Gandhi's Flawed Worldview

Gandhi did not believe Hitler posed much of a threat. In May 1940, he said, "I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed." As this essay notes, the quote belongs to the same month in which Winston Churchill became Prime Minister and Hitler launched his attacks on Belgium, Holland, and France. Within a month of the statement, Hitler controlled virtually all of Western Europe. Even more shocking, at least to me, is the nature of Gandhi's advice: in 1938 he advised the Jews of Europe to use only nonviolent resistance to Hitler and counseled the U.S., Britain, and France not to declare war on Germany.

Ironically, a Gandhi descendant is giving similar advice to the Jews today.

China's Historical Revisionism

The U.S. depends on South Korea and Japan to help contain China. The problem is that both Japan and South Korea are growing ever-more dependant on China for their economic health.

China has become South Korea's largest export destination, and while the two economies will be locked in competition for foreign markets in the near future, today it is China and its demand for exports that are keeping the South Korean economy from slipping into recession.

One fear is that South Korea's increasing dependence will pull it into the Chinese orbit, where it resided for hundreds of years prior to Japan's colonization of the Korean peninsula:

Prior to Japan's colonization of Korea at the beginning of the 20th century, Korea was a vassal state of China for much of the previous 400 years. This client-patron relationship that endured for centuries, coupled with the deep cultural, ideological ties, has left an enduring legacy of respect for China within Korean culture and has strongly affected the Korean psyche.

Korea has been criticized for being quick to react to even the slightest transgression by either the United States or Japan, while China often gets a pass, even when the transgressions are great.

But China's increasingly aggressive actions may help drive public opinion back into America's favor. First, mirroring recent events in Japan, a wave of hackers has attacked South Korean websites related to national security:

Three weeks ago, Seoul's National Intelligence Agency discovered that a group of Chinese hackers, at least one from a government-run institute in China, had hacked into sensitive computer networks at 10 South Korean government institutes related to national security. The breach, characterized by officials as severe, lasted at least a month.

More significant, perhaps, is a growing dispute over historical interpretation of the Koguryo kingdom.

China has again come under attack for escalating its drive to distort Koguryo history and claim the ancient Korean kingdom belonged to Chinese dynasties.

The fear is that China's historical claims may form the basis of a future occupation of North Korea. North Korea's only surviving treaty is the 1961 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, under which China guarantees North Korea's territorial integrity. Changes in the North Korean situation could lead to a destabilizing power vacuum that would serve as an invitation for Chinese occupation in the name of "mutual assistance." Then, based on historical revisionism, it could justify staying. Such fears are prompting some Koreans to change their attitudes toward China.

Many South Koreans are slowly awakening to China's unique approach to political archeology. Perhaps a good thing, some analysts conclude, for at least now South Koreans will begin to realize that China is not the all-benevolent fraternal ally many naively believed it to be.

Burning the Japanese Flag

Chinese authorities mobilized more than 10,000 police officers to prevent anti-Japanese hostility from spilling over into violence at the finals of the Asian Cup, which Japan won 3-1. While Japanese fans were confined to a separate 5,000-seat area, Chinese fans discharged pent up anger in the form of jeering, throwing garbage, burning the Japanese flag, and smashing the window of a car transporting a Japanese diplomat:

Outside the stadium, Chinese fans burned the Japanese flag.When a car transporting a Japanese diplomat was leaving the venue, Chinese fans smashed one of its windows, prompting the Japanese Embassy in Beijing to lodge a protest.

This anger was mirrored in cyberspace, where Chinese hackers

launched organized cyber-attacks on dozens of official Web sites in Japan and Taiwan in response to a Japanese attack on a Chinese site last month, the Hong Kong edition of China's official newspaper reported Friday. The newspaper Wen Wei Po said groups organized 1,900 hackers to launch a massive attack on more than 200 official Web sites in Japan and Taiwan on Monday.

The attack was in retaliation for Japan-based attacks on the Website of the China Federation of Defending Diaoyu Islands, "in which a hacker wrote 'the Uotsuri Island belongs to Japan' on the site." Uotsuri is the largest of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, which are at the center of a dispute between Japan and China.