Chinese Protesters Vent Their Anger On The Wrong Japanese
Daimler, or rather one of its Chinese customers, is paying late penance for the ill-fated merger with Chrysler. A Chinese patriot proudly presented this trophy on Weibo, the Chinese version of the (blocked in China) Twitter. He said he took it off a “Japanese Mitsubishi” which he savaged in rage against Japan’s occupation of the Diaoyu islands.
Mitsubishi Motors fell into the hands of Daimler through the merger with Chrysler. After that fell apart. Mitsubishi soon was back on its own.
The Weibo message says: “I am an angry young man. I’m not cool with Japanese cars, I saw a Mitsubishi car, and angrily ripped its logo out…”
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Over the weekend, angry mobs ransacked Japanese department stores and restaurants, burned Japanese factories and Japanese cars. In the Chinese city of Qingdao, Ash Sutcliffe, owner/operator of Chinacartimes, was denied entry to a parking lot, on the grounds that “it was reserved for Chinese, German, and Korean cars only.” Ash’s Nissan Qashqai was not welcome. Ash showed the guard his “English middle finger,” and he parked unmolested across the street.
He was lucky. Also in Qingdao, angered Chinese did set a Toyota dealership on fire and smashed the windows of 200 cars.
On Monday, matters calmed down after people realized that mainly Chinese interests get hurt. Ironically, it would be the Chinese government that would take the brunt of a boycott of Japanese cars. Most are made in China by joint ventures that have government-owned enterprises as joint venture partner.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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I think it's a joke. The term 'angry youth' seen here is a well established term for these strident nationalistic flag-waving morons on the internet. An actual 'angry youth' will never start a sentence by saying 'I am an angry youth'. Just as a teabagger here in the US will not introduce himself by saying 'I am a teabagger'.
Mob mentality, the mob doesn't care what it strikes out at. So long as it hits something.