US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is currently on a mission to Japan and China to calm simmering tensions between the two Asian powers, amid an escalating row over territorial rights. An imaginary conversation between Panetta and a "Very Important Person" in Beijing may run like this: Panetta: There are allegations that the Chinese government not only condones, but also masterminds all the anti-Japan protests across many cities in China. VIP: There are also allegations that the US government is the mastermind behind the anti-Islam film. Panetta: Rubbish! Freedom of speech, that is, the right to express beliefs and ideas without unwarranted government restriction, is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Anybody who takes away this right from the people in the US will end up in the dustbin of history. VIP: Your response to the allegations is "rubbish", then my response is "lapsap". Let's go over there and you will find out the reason. The Chinese VIP goes to the other side of the room, opens a window and beckons Panetta to look down across the street below. Panetta (jokingly): Those guys are really running amok. It looks like anti-US protests for offending Islam are following US officials like shadows wherever they go. VIP: Don't joke. If you know your house is burning, why waste your time trying to lower the temperature next door? I'm sure you know whom the Chinese people are protesting against. The governments in the Muslim World, the US and China are currently caught in a dilemma. Using an analogy, they are like tiny rafts pushing all the way downstream by the upstoppable currents of religion, freedom and nationalism respectively. There is always a danger that any of the rafts could crash into a rock in midstream. Panetta: Are you going to let the mobs running wild forever? VIP: No, law and order have to be restored. Chinese history has shown that failure to counter external provocation or aggression will inevitably lead to the downfall of the government. Those people are taking the law into their own hands, thinking they are the final guardians of the land and sentinels at the city gates. My government is being sandwiched between the people's nationalistic sentiment and Japan's provocation. We have no choice but to take the necessary measures to prove to the people that China is not a weakling in the face of foreign provocation or aggression. Panetta: I have to remind you that the US commitment to Japan, in the form of a mutual defense treaty, is unwavering even though we have said, time and again, the US as a matter of policy does not take a position on the territorial dispute. VIP (laughing): I don't wish to see you as a prisoner of war here in our next meeting. Neither do I wish to be your prisoner of war. Pentagon chief seeks to calm Japan-China tensions http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1226464/1/.html Panetta to meet Xi Jinping on extended trip to China http://news.terra.com/panetta-to-me...7644c28f3d3d9310VgnVCM3000009acceb0aRCRD.html Lapsap http://www.soslang.com/term/lapsap
