Shame! Shame! Shame on China! -- The Portrait of an Angrily Snarling
"Olympic Host"
Economist.com
China
Angry China
May 1st 2008
From The Economist print edition
The recent glimpses of a snarling China should scare the country's
government as much as the world
CHINA is in a frightening mood. The sight of thousands of Chinese people
waving xenophobic fists suggests that a country on its way to becoming a
superpower may turn out to be a more dangerous force than optimists had
hoped. But it isn't just foreigners who should be worried by these
scenes: the Chinese government, which has encouraged this outburst of
nationalism, should also be afraid.
For three decades, having shed communism in all but the name of its
ruling party, China's government has justified its monopolistic hold on
power through economic advance. Many Chinese enjoy a prosperity undreamt
of by their forefathers. For them, though, it is no longer enough to be
reminded of the grim austerity of their parents' childhoods. They need
new aspirations.
The government's solution is to promise them that China will be restored
to its rightful place at the centre of world affairs. Hence the pride at
winning the Olympics, and the fury at the embarrassing protests during
the torch relay. But the appeal to nationalism is a double-edged sword:
while it provides a useful outlet for domestic discontents (see
article), it could easily turn on the government itself.
A million mutinies
The torch relay has galvanised protests about all manner of alleged
Chinese crimes: in Tibet, in China's broader human-rights record, in its
cosy relations with repellent regimes. And these in turn have drawn
counter-protests from thousands of expatriate Chinese, from Chinese
within the country and on the internet.
Chinese rage has focused on the alleged ¡°anti-China¡± bias of the Western
press, which is accused of ignoring violence by Tibetans in the unrest
in March. From this starting-point China's defenders have gone on to
denounce the entire edifice of Western liberal democracy as a sham.
Using its tenets to criticise China is, they claim, sheer hypocrisy.
They cite further evidence of double standards: having exported its
dirtiest industries to China, the West wants the country to curb its
carbon emissions, potentially impeding its growth and depriving newly
well-off Chinese of their right to a motor car. And as the presidential
election campaign in America progresses, more China-bashing can be
expected, with protectionism disguised as noble fury at ¡°coddling
dictators¡±.
China's rage is out of all proportion to the alleged offences. It
reflects a fear that a resentful, threatened West is determined to
thwart China's rise. The Olympics have become a symbol of China's right
to the respect it is due. Protests, criticism and boycott threats are
seen as part of a broader refusal to accept and accommodate China.
There is no doubt genuine fury in China at these offences; yet the
impression the response gives of a people united behind the government
is an illusion. China, like India, is a land of a million mutinies now.
Legions of farmers are angry that their land has been swallowed up for
building by greedy local officials. People everywhere are aghast at the
poisoning of China's air, rivers and lakes in the race for growth.
Hardworking, honest citizens chafe at corrupt officials who treat them
with contempt and get rich quick. And the party still makes an ass of
the law and a mockery of justice.
Herein lies the danger for the government. Popular anger, once roused,
can easily switch targets. This weekend China will be commemorating an
event seen as pivotal in its long revolution¡ªthe protests on May 4th
1919 against the humiliation of China by the Versailles treaty (which
bequeathed German ¡°concessions¡± in China to Japan). The Communist Party
had roots in that movement. Now, as then, protests at perceived slights
against China's dignity could turn against a government accused of not
doing enough to safeguard it.
Remember the ides of May
Western businessmen and policymakers are pulled in opposite directions
by Chinese anger. As the sponsors of the Olympics have learned to their
cost, while consumer- and shareholder-activists in the West demand they
take a stand against perceived Chinese abuses, in China itself firms'
partners and customers are all too ready to take offence. Western
policymakers also face a difficult balancing act. They need to recognise
that China has come a long way very quickly, and offers its citizens new
opportunities and even new freedoms, though these are still far short of
what would constitute democracy. Yet that does not mean they should
pander to China's pride. Western leaders have a duty to raise concerns
about human rights, Tibet and other ¡°sensitive¡± subjects. They do not
need to resign themselves to ineffectiveness: up to a point, pressure
works: China has been modestly helpful over Myanmar, North Korea and
Sudan. It has even agreed to reopen talks with the Dalai Lama's
representatives. This has happened because of, not despite, criticism
from abroad.
Pessimists fear that if China faces too much such pressure, hardliners
within the ruling elite will triumph over the ¡°moderates¡± in charge now.
But even if they did, it is hard to see how they could end the
30-year-old process of opening up and turn China in on itself. This
unprecedented phenomenon, of the rapid integration into the world of its
most populous country, seems irreversible. There are things that could
be done to make it easier to manage¡ªincluding reform of the architecture
of the global institutions that reflect a 60-year-old world order. But
the world and China have to learn to live with each other.
For China, that means learning to respect foreigners' rights to engage
it even on its ¡°internal affairs¡±. A more measured response to such
criticism is necessary not only to China's great-power ambitions, but
also to its internal stability; for while the government may distract
Chinese people from their domestic discontents by breathing fire at
foreigners, such anger, once roused, can run out of control. In the end,
China's leaders will have to deal with those frustrations head-on, by
tackling the pollution, the corruption and the human-rights abuses that
contribute to the country's dangerous mood. The Chinese people will
demand it.
2008 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group
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