Shih Ping, a Japan Innovation Party senator of Chinese descent, visits Taiwan and speaks at the “2026 Indo-Pacific Strategy Think Tank Seminar—How Should We Deal With China (the CCP)” on January 9, 2026. (Zhong Yuan / The Dajiyuan)
[People News] Shih Ping, a Japan Innovation Party senator of Chinese descent, recently visited Taiwan and delivered remarks at a seminar organized by Taiwan’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Think Tank. When asked about the Chinese Communist Party’s cross-border repression of Falun Gong, he said in an interview, “When the Chinese Communist Party persecutes and represses legitimate religions, from the perspective of our civilized society, this is absolutely not permissible.”
On January 9, the Indo-Pacific Strategy Think Tank held a seminar titled “How Should We Deal With China (the CCP)” at the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation, inviting Japanese Senator Shih Ping, Taiwanese Legislator Shen Po-yang, National Taiwan University Professor Emeritus Ming Chü-cheng, and Professor Yang Haiying of Shizuoka University in Japan to participate in the discussion. Yu Maochun, director of the China Center at the U.S. think tank Hudson Institute, delivered remarks via video.
Shih Ping’s parents were university professors. During the Cultural Revolution in 1966, political struggles began at their school, and his parents were sent down to work on a farm. Shih Ping went to live with his grandfather in the countryside while still in elementary school. In July 1984, Shih Ping graduated from the Department of Philosophy at Peking University. In April 1988, he went to Japan to study abroad, earning a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in cultural studies at Kobe University. In November 2007, Shih Ping became a naturalized Japanese citizen. An outspoken anti-communist, he has long criticized the CCP’s totalitarian government. In 2025, he ran for the Japanese House of Councillors for the first time, but immediately after being elected, the CCP announced sanctions against him, including a “ban on entry.”
Not Allowing the CCP to Carry Out Cross-Border Repression Against People in Other Countries
Regarding the CCP’s cross-border repression of Falun Gong, Shih Ping told The Dajiyuan, “If the Chinese Communist Party persecutes and represses legitimate religions, then from the standpoint of our civilized society, that is absolutely unacceptable.”
As for how countries should respond to the CCP’s cross-border repression targeting him as a sitting senator in Japan, as well as political figures and Falun Gong groups in democratic countries such as the United States and Taiwan, Shih Ping pointed out, “Whether it is the United States, Taiwan, or Japan, there should be laws to guarantee every citizen’s freedom of religion, and freedom of speech must also be protected.” He added, “Japan also has such laws. We do not allow the Chinese Communist Party to cross national borders to deprive us of our freedom of religion and freedom of speech.”
Regarding China’s economic downturn, continued retaliation by the CCP against Japan, the operational pressures faced by Japanese businesses in China, and their adjustment of China strategies and departure from the mainland—further worsening China’s economy—what is his view on whether China’s economy will head toward collapse in the future?
Shih Ping said that he believes the withdrawal of Japanese capital from China is a good thing and that China’s economic future is bleak. In fact, he was one of the earliest people in Japan to say that China’s economy would collapse. At the beginning, some people said he was talking nonsense and that China’s economy had not collapsed. However, he believes that China’s economy will eventually move in the direction of collapse.
Yu Maochun and several political figures from democratic countries have also been placed on the CCP’s blacklist. Speaking via video, Yu Maochun joked that he regards this as a “badge of honor.” He emphasized that being sanctioned by the CCP is an honor and a widely known and common phenomenon. He mentioned that democratic countries must draw red lines on core issues, including peace in the Taiwan Strait, internet technology and technology theft, coercive diplomacy, hostage diplomacy, and cross-border repression. These are “red lines” for Western societies that must never be compromised, and the United States has done exactly that.
Shih Ping: Democratic Countries Must Unite to Deal With the Rogue CCP Regime
In his short remarks, Shih Ping mentioned that he was born in China and lived under Communist Party rule until the age of 26. China has a long history and a brilliant culture. Educated by his maternal grandfather from a young age, he memorized many Tang poems and Song lyrics and studied The Analects. To this day, he still holds great admiration for Chinese culture, and every time he visits Taiwan, he goes to the National Palace Museum. He mentioned that China during the Spring and Autumn Period was quite good, divided into many states that developed freely. If intellectuals were unhappy in one state, they could go to another to develop, just as he chose to go to Japan to realize his talents when he was unhappy in China.
Indo-Pacific Strategy Think Tank CEO Akio Yaita wrote on Facebook that Shih Ping recently participated in the recording of his YouTube program “Yaita Akio NewTalk.” He recounted his upbringing in China, his study abroad in Japan, and his involvement in the Chinese democratization movement. When speaking about the CCP’s bloody suppression of the June 4 Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, he became choked with emotion and his eyes reddened. This appeared to be a deeply buried memory that had been stirred again after many years. It made people more clearly feel that the position he stands in today is not the result of political calculation, but of long-term value-based choices.
Shih Ping noted that China has a history of dynastic changes. In modern history, under Mao Zedong’s rule of China, “the Chinese Communist Party was essentially an organization cultivated in China by the Soviet Communist Party.” They emphasized “party spirit,” requiring the complete eradication of all human nature so that people become tools of the Party, even taking pride in sacrificing flesh-and-blood family ties for the Party. Reviewing the CCP’s history, he said that during the campaign to “strike down landlords and redistribute land” and the “land revolution” in rural areas, the Party relied on “local ruffians and hooligans” to foment rebellion, forming a unique rogue cultural gene. Later, this culture erupted into the ten-year Cultural Revolution, during which Red Guards could ransack any household.
He grew up during the Cultural Revolution and knows that the CCP has two kinds of culture: one is a cruel, ruthless culture devoid of humanity; the other is a culture of “smashing, looting, and burning” carried out by ruffians and hooligans to seize power. Mao Zedong’s 27-year rule over China was the darkest period in Chinese history. After Deng Xiaoping came to power and implemented reform and opening up, the nature of the CCP did not change. He said he awakened because of the bloody killings of the June 4 incident, when the Communist Party deployed tanks to suppress unarmed students.
“After the June 4 incident in 1989, for a period of time, the so-called socialist market economy developed again,” he pointed out. In fact, China’s economic development benefited from assistance by democratic countries such as the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. At that time, China had only labor, while Americans, Japanese, and Taiwanese businesspeople brought capital and technology to China. Countries at the time harbored the illusion that China’s economic development would bring democratization to the Chinese people. Instead, what they got was that after achieving economic growth, the Communist Party continuously expanded its military power, and in the Xi era adopted an even tougher external posture, fully exposing the rogue-state nature of a dictatorial regime.
Shih Ping said that the CCP not only wants to annex Taiwan and bully Japan, but also to occupy the South China Sea and ultimately dominate the world. Xi Jinping has claimed that he wants to build a “community of shared future for mankind.” On the question of “how should we deal with China (the CCP),” he called on people not to harbor any illusions about Communist China, nor to believe that through good-faith negotiations or gaining sympathy, consensus can be reached and agreements concluded in exchange for peace. He warned that the CCP is an inhumane regime. Back then, China and Britain issued the Joint Declaration promising to protect Hong Kong, but now Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” and the promise of “50 years unchanged” have been destroyed. That declaration, he said, has no real meaning at all.
Finally, Shih Ping warned people from all walks of life in Taiwan: “Do not fantasize that through dialogue with the CCP, peace and security in the Taiwan Strait can be achieved and that the people of Taiwan can continue to enjoy the current free and democratic way of life—that is impossible. Just think about what would happen to any individual who falls into the hands of a rogue regime.” He believes that democratic countries such as Taiwan, Japan, and the United States must strengthen national defense, counter-infiltration, and counter-sabotage capabilities, and that everyone must unite to deal with rogue states.
(Reported by The Dajiyuan reporter Zhong Yuan in Taiwan)
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