Global Times Interview

 By Pat Elder
December 16, 2024

Interview with Wang Wenwen of Global Times. 
(6 min.)

 The Global Times is a daily newspaper under the guidance of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily. The paper comments on international issues. Like families, we disagree on some things, but we agree on a lot.

The interview covers my trip with the Veterans for Peace Speaking Tour of Japan organized by Rachel Clark. The interview addresses the PFAS contamination caused by the U.S. at military bases throughout Japan.  U.S. Forces Japan has caused widespread, lethal contamination of Japan’s soil, water, and food, especially the fish. Activists, academics, and prefectural government officials were keenly interested in our message about the toxicity of PFAS. However, the Japanese government was not so happy with us. They wash their hands of the environmental crimes of the Americans.

August 24, 2024 - Japanese authorities confiscated my passport and swabbed my arms and legs for explosives.

After spending 3 weeks in Japan warning  citizens throughout the country of the dangers posed by the ongoing and reckless use of carcinogenic PFAS substances by the occupying forces of the United States military, I was subjected to harassment by Japanese authorities upon my exit of the country from Osaka on August 23, 2024.

The Japanese authorities acting on behalf of the U.S. government took my passport and stopped me from boarding. They led me into a separate room. They rubbed cotton swabs on my wrists and legs to test for explosives. They did the same for my shoes. They put the results in a machine. Could the procedure be used to collect DNA samples?

I was able to board the flight to Honolulu, another hostile place for my message.

This interview may be translated to Chinese and broadcast to many millions of Chinese. I realize how I fall into their design to win hearts and minds for their geo-political place in the world and I’m comfortable with this arrangement. I think the U.S. is the far more threatening, violence-prone actor on the world stage. I am also  hopeful that Chinese viewers will begin to think about the potential for this sort of PFAS contamination and take steps to protect human health.  Human health concerns outweigh geo-political posturing. Their political cartoons speak volumes.

Bringing chaos By Chen Xia  Dec 10, 2024  LRHW is the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon.                                    Global Times Cartoon

Insatiable thirst for war  Vitaly Podvitski Jun 19, 2024

Militarizing space By Chen Xia  Jul 18, 2024