Withdrawing from the Chinese market and re-taking the century-old military industry road, Mitsubishi's ambitions are beyond imagination!
In October 2023, China's automotive industry ushered in blockbuster news, Mitsubishi Motors, as an outstanding representative of Japanese cars, announced its withdrawal from China, and many industry insiders thought that the era of Japanese cars was quietly gone.
But at the same time, there is news that Mitsubishi has reached a cooperation with the Japanese Ministry of Defense and withdrew from China just to receive more military orders, which can't help but cast a layer of conspiracy theories on Mitsubishi's move.
Why did Mitsubishi withdraw from China? What does it have to do with Japanese militarism?
On October 24, 2023, Mitsubishi Motors said it would end vehicle production in China and withdraw from its joint venture with GAC Group.
As soon as the news came out, in fact, as early as a few months ago, there were successive revelations that Mitsubishi was about to withdraw from the Chinese auto market, but Mitsubishi has always denied it, and the rumors have not fermented.
Nowadays, for Mitsubishi's withdrawal, many people believe that it is due to the deterioration of GAC Mitsubishi's business in recent years, but there are also some careful ** linked to the recent movements of Mitsubishi Corporation, thinking that Mitsubishi's withdrawal from the Chinese market has another hidden reason.
It turned out that as early as April 11, 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that it had signed a contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the development and mass production of long-range missiles, and planned to deploy this batch of missiles as early as 2026.
Among the more eye-catching in this order is the upgraded version of the Type 12 shore-based anti-ship missile, which was originally developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and officially entered service with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces in 2015, with an initial range of about 200 kilometers.
Japan's Ministry of Defense and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plan to develop sea-based and air-based versions of the missile, increasing the maximum range to 900 to 1,200 kilometers.
In other words, if this missile is deployed in Kagoshima, a major Japanese military town, the entire East China Sea will be within its strike range, and even the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai regions will be threatened by it.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the contract, in addition to the fact that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will also develop hypersonic ballistic missiles and submarine-launched long-range anti-ship missiles for defense of remote islands, and the design of the anti-ship missiles will also be close to the famous "Tomahawk missile" in the United States.
It is also the defense of remote islands, and it is also a long-range missile aimed at the fleet, and Japan has spent a lot of money to build an operation, and its intention has long been known to everyone in Sima Zhao's heart, and it is clear that it is aimed at China.
According to the "National Defense Strategy" and other documents adopted by Japan in December 2022, it is clearly pointed out that Japan's long-range missile development plan is to contain the potential threats of China, Russia, and North Korea.
Not only that, Japan's local ** "Asahi Shimbun" revealed that the "outlying island operation" exercise carried out by the Self-Defense Forces in the past two years has been an imaginary enemy of China, and it is really too lazy to pretend.
Japan's continued build-up of armaments in an attempt to provoke an arms race in East Asia is also a test of the bottom line of the international community, an attempt to break through the military restrictions imposed after its defeat in World War II, and ultimately to achieve the restoration of militarism.
In this process, Mitsubishi Group is undoubtedly one of the main **.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is Japan's largest defense contractor, and the vast majority of the Self-Defense Force's tanks, missiles, and other military equipment are produced in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' workshops, and more than half of the Japanese Navy's submarines and 30% of its destroyers are produced by Mitsubishi.
On November 6, 2023, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries took the initiative to issue a statement, saying that the company's military orders for the current fiscal year successfully doubled, reaching an unprecedented 16 trillion yen, or about 10.6 billion dollars.
As soon as the news came out, it caused heated discussions in various countries, and the British Reuters news agency bluntly said that this is Japan's largest military expansion since World War II.
The Reuters report directly compared Japan during World War II, but in fact, there was something in the words, suggesting that Japan intended to start a world war again.
In the process of Japan's military relaxation, the Mitsubishi Group will also act as it did more than half a century ago and help the Japanese militarist cause of aggression.
After the outbreak of the Black Ship Incident in 1853, Japan ended its isolation and overthrew the feudal shogunate through the Shogunate Movement, and entered the era of the Meiji Restoration.
The tide of the times has brought opportunities to countless people, and the founder of Mitsubishi CorporationYataro IwasakiIt is the one who seizes the opportunity to swim against the current.
As early as the Shogunate period, Yataro Iwasaki had a unique business talent and made a name for himself in Nagasaki's official chamber of commerce.
In 1870, the Restoration** realized that the feudal enterprises were seriously squeezing the living space of private enterprises, so they decided to abolish the feudal enterprises on a large scale.
Facing the crisis of unemployment, Yataro Iwasaki had to find another way out and lead his subordinates to break away from the domain and stand on his own, and took over the Tosa Domain's commercial "Osaka Nishi-Nagabori Shoten" and the construction site house attached to the store and three ships, naming it Tosa Kaisei Shoten.
Later, Yataro Iwasaki changed the name of the company several times, and finally officially changed its name to "Mitsubishi Shokai" in March 1873, and Mitsubishi's name continues to this day.
In the process of changing its name, Mitsubishi gradually expanded, and its main business shifted from the original production and sale of small goods to the shipping industry, and even became more popular with the public than the postal steamship company founded by Mitsui Capital during the same period.
But for the Mitsubishi chaebol, which grew into the lifeblood of Japan's economy in the future, this is far from enough, and connecting with the official is the most indispensable step for Mitsubishi to take off.
In February 1874, the Saga Rebellion broke out, and two merchant ships of Mitsubishi were requisitioned to transport military supplies, which opened the prelude to political and business cooperation.
On April 27 of the same year, Japan invaded our country's Taiwan, and there was a basis for previous cooperationOkubo Ritsuand others decided to reuse Mitsubishi merchant ships to transport supplies for the Japanese invasion of China, and Yataro Iwasaki took this opportunity to take a big gamble and use all Mitsubishi ships for transportation tasks, so as to win the trust of Meiji**.
It turned out that Yataro Iwasaki won the bet, and after the Battle of Taiwan, ** handed over 13 ships to Mitsubishi for management, and Mitsubishi only had to perform the task of supporting transportation in wartime.
In September 1875, Meiji** delivered the "First Order" to Mitsubishi, requiring Mitsubishi to assume official business and accept official supervision as agreed.
On the other hand, Mitsubishi is given an annual "shipping subsidy" of 250,000 yen and a series of preferential policies.
*'s move happened to be in the calculation of Yataro Iwasaki, and in his opinion, only with ** as the backing, Mitsubishi can go faster and further.
Under the leadership of Yataro Iwasaki, Mitsubishi officially embarked on the road of combining politics and business, a decision that brought decades of glory to Mitsubishi, but also cast an indelible sin and shame for it in the future.
After accepting the first order, Mitsubishi played an important role in a series of wars such as the Ganghwa Island Incident and the Southwest War, and Mitsubishi repeatedly benefited from it.
By 1877, Mitsubishi had become the dominant player in Japan's shipping industry, and its ambitions continued to expand like Japanese militarism, eventually reaching the military industry.
In the 80s of the 19th century, after the Meiji Restoration, Japan's comprehensive national strength increased greatly and embarked on the road of foreign aggression.
As an island country, a strong fleet is a sufficient and necessary condition for Japan's foreign aggression, while Japan's large-scale ** has long relied on foreign imports, which is equivalent to Japan's military lifeline in the hands of other countries, and the development of its own shipbuilding industry is imminent.
In 1886, Mitsubishi was the second generation to take chargeYanosuke IwasakiSeize the outlet, take the initiative to give up the direct operation of the shipping industry, and begin to focus on the construction of the shipbuilding industry and the mining industry, grasp the upstream and downstream industries of the first production, and try to build a unique Mitsubishi production line.
Iwasaki Yanosuke's judgment is correct, in 1896, Japan successively promulgated the "Shipbuilding Incentive Law" and the "Navigation Incentive Law" to subsidize the construction and purchase of domestic ships.
Yanosuke Iwasaki
As soon as the bill came out, the Japanese people set off a shipbuilding boom, and Mitsubishi, which began to develop the shipbuilding industry ten years ahead of schedule, undoubtedly became the industry leader and the biggest beneficiary of the bill.
According to statistics, from 1898 to 1912, Mitsubishi built a total of 11 ** ships for the Japanese military, and received a reward of 4.89 million yen, which was the most awarded by all shipbuilding enterprises.
And the real gold ** earned by Mitsubishi enterprises is also soaked in the blood of the Chinese.
Japan's first bill to reward shipbuilding enterprises was promulgated in 1896, and the year before, the Sino-Japanese "Treaty of Shimonoseki" was signed, and the incompetent Qing ** compensated Japan with 200 million taels**, so that the Japanese treasury that had been reckless for 30 years was instantly filled, otherwise Japan would not be able to award incentives to private enterprises with great wealth.
After tasting the sweetness of the shipbuilding industry, Mitsubishi increased its investment in the military manufacturing industry, and due to Japan's continuous wars with foreign countries, Mitsubishi's military orders soared, forcing Mitsubishi to embark on the road of independent research and development.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Mitsubishi successively established subsidiaries such as Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company, Mitsubishi Iron Company, and Nagasaki Ordnance Works, and gradually developed into a "Kangzen" type monopoly.
By 1921, Mitsubishi had invested a staggering 2500 million yen, Mitsubishi's position as the leader of Japan's military industry was established.
While Mitsubishi was developing rapidly, it was also firmly bound to Japanese militarism.
Through Japan's foreign expansion, Mitsubishi not only plundered the raw materials of China, North Korea and other countries, dumped surplus goods, but also carried out barbaric capital exports to China, built factories in China on a large scale, and squeezed the living space of Chinese national enterprises.
At the same time, for resource-poor Japan, if it loses China, a raw material production area, Mitsubishi's production lines will be shut down on a large scale, which prompts Mitsubishi to gradually change from being an adherent of the war to a behind-the-scenes promoter, riding in the same chariot with Japanese militarism.
Before the outbreak of the 77 Incident, Mitsubishi and other big chaebols reached a consensus with Japan and the military, and formulated a military strategy of "fighting to feed the war", actively carrying out military production after the start of the war, and continuously sending the first to the front line, and the land captured by the Japanese army fed back resources to the rear, so as to achieve a cycle.
The crimes committed by the Japanese invaders, such as selling opium and abusing prisoners of war and laborers, were all related to Mitsubishi and other chaebols.
It is no exaggeration to say that in addition to personally picking up the first step and going to the front line, Mitsubishi was deeply involved in every aspect of Japan's invasion of China, and the crimes committed are too numerous to mention.
According to statistics, from 1937 to 1945, Mitsubishi produced 15,841 aircraft for the Japanese army, accounting for a quarter of all Japan, among which the famous "Zero fighter" was also developed and produced by Mitsubishi.
In terms of the navy, Mitsubishi produced 114 ships, including the Musashi, with a total displacement tonnage of 310,000 tons, which is 40% of the total tonnage of Japan's private shipbuilding construction.
It can be said that more than half of every bullet fired at the Chinese during the Anti-Japanese War was produced by Mitsubishi!
Moreover, in order to solve the problem of labor shortage, Mitsubishi also asked the Japanese troops on the front line to arrest Chinese Ping** and go to Japan itself, forcing them to work in dangerous mines, completely driven as slaves, and countless Chinese died in other places, which is also a fact that Mitsubishi tried to cover up after the war.
After Japan's defeat in World War II, the "Potsdam Proclamation" clearly pointed out that Mitsubishi was one of the main culprits of Japan's war of aggression and bore unshirkable responsibility.
At the same time, according to the agreement, the Mitsubishi enterprises will be dismembered, and the Iwasaki family, which ruled Mitsubishi, will also be ousted as war criminals, and Mitsubishi will cease to exist.
What is indignant is that as a result of the ensuing struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, the US policy toward Japan has changed from "attacking" and "weakening" to "protecting" and "supporting," and the dismemberment of Mitsubishi has been greatly reduced.
Although the United States pretends to be deaf and dumb and Japan selectively forgets, hundreds of millions of Chinese will always remember the crimes of the Japanese army that invaded China and the Mitsubishi Corporation, and this unforgettable and painful history will live forever with Haoyue.
Today, Mitsubishi is trying to get on the Japanese militarist chariot again, but the Chinese will be in the same historical position, strangling the conspiracy in a more crisp and neat way.
This article was originally written by "Interesting History", and has been opened for rights protection on the whole network.