China-ba****ng is a blind man's game
China's renaissance, arguably the most significant story of our time,
offers to the world as much as the world brings to China. Yet some
fail to grasp the big picture, and for them, China's re-emergence
generates anxiety. The result is anti-Chinese rhetoric and behavior
that can only generate anti-Western attitudes within China. Meanwhile
Beijing and the West could join forces to solve global problems. -
David Gosset (May 6, '08)
China-ba****ng is a blind man's game
By David Gosset
May 7, 2008
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JE07Ad02.html
For the global village, China's renewal is a source of economic
growth, a factor of stability and an invitation to explore new ideas.
In fact, through countless material or intellectual Silk Roads, an
unprecedented intensity of exchanges between China and the world is
already taking the global system to another level. Businesses,
governments' priorities and academic institutions have been
transformed by this complex but promising process.
However, some fail to grasp the big picture, and for them, China's
re-emergence generates anxiety. This explains partly why nervousness
is a recurring element of the Sino-Western relation****p. In the midst
of a phase of tension, one has to draw the attention to what really
matters and to show the ways which can lead to a more serene climate.
Recently, China and the overseas Chinese had to respond to various
forms of attack. Those, mainly in the West, whose aim was to damage
China's reputation and to disrupt the preparation of the Beijing
Olympics are now largely discredited and relatively marginalized. They
wanted to weaken China, they gave her an occasion to show her
solidity, her resolve and sense of responsibility.
Unfortunately, they have created a situation where too much mistrust,
resentment and confusion remain. This takes the energies away from
what should be Wa****ngton, Brussels and Beijing's strategic goal: a
cooperative and constructive Sino-Western relation****p, keystone of
the 21st century global order. Clarity, measure and purpose can help
dissipate the clouds.
Negative comments on the Chinese world often reflect Western ignorance
of a different context, its globally positive socio-economic
transformation - including in Tibet and in Xinjiang - and, for some of
its parts, its modernity. And, when a CNN commentator calls the
Chinese "goons and thugs" and says that the products manufactured in
China are "junk", or when the new mayor of London writes that "Chinese
cultural influence is virtually nil, and unlikely to increase",
ignorance becomes foolishness.
But the Western "China-ba****ng" is also highly counterproductive.
Anti-Chinese rhetoric or behaviors can only generate anti-Western
attitudes within China. While Beijing and the West need to join forces
to solve the immediate environmental, political and economic problems
threatening global equilibrium, irresponsible activists and
politicians are taking the risk to ignite new sterile antagonisms.
There would be no winner in such a confrontational configuration.
Western officials have also to realize that by their harsh, accusatory
and unfair criticisms, they reinforce China's most conservative
forces. The Chinese reformers working for the deepening of Deng
Xiaoping's "Reform and Opening-up" need constructive and subtle
international partners, not arrogant foreign demagogues manipulating
issues for their own domestic and short-term political gains.
Moreover, and over the longer term, inaccurate re****ts or insulting
remarks by Western commentators undermine the West's intellectual and
moral credibility. It is the emulation between rich and nuanced
analyses, and not new forms of opposition between dogmatic statements,
which can enrich the debate.
What can be done to overcome the current difficulties facing the
Sino-Western relation****p? Several elements have to be considered.
Some are recommendations that can have almost immediate effects, some
are principles for the foundation of a cooperative future between
China and the West.
Obviously, the Beijing Olympics are attracting the world's attention
but one has to put this s****ting event in its proper place. Despite
all the excitement and passion about the 2008 Games, one should keep
in mind that they are a very small chapter of what is arguably the
most significant story of our time, China's renaissance. By putting
the Games in perspective all the parties can more easily stay within
the limits of reason, the main parameter of a strong Sino-Western
relation****p.
One can not expect China, the US and the European Union to agree on
everything, and one should be ready to accept differences and even
tensions between the three poles. If properly managed, tensions do not
have to lead to conflicts, but can conduct to adjustments and
improvement.
Some in Wa****ngton and Brussels have not yet fully realized that China
is a mature and sophisticated sovereign entity able to discern and
defend its best interests. Excessive paternalism or a mere superiority
complex can even lead to the assumption that one can dictate its
policies to China. During the 19th and the first half of the 20th
century, a declining Chinese world yielded to foreign imperial
ambitions. The leader****p of the post-1949 China will not replay this
episode of humiliation. In the 21st century, Brussels and Wa****ngton
can formulate advice or suggestions on issues connected with the
Chinese world, but certainly not unilaterally impose their views on
China. Beijing and the West, as co-architects of the world order, have
to learn to co-decide. Through dialogue and negotiation, they can
reach this goal.
In March, riots in Tibet legitimately caused concern. Everything has
to be done to avoid the repetition of such tragic events. However,
problems in Tibet are China's internal affairs - the Dalai Lama is not
asking for Tibet's independence. A constructive way to help Tibet's
modernization would be for Western companies to invest in the
autonomous region (Cor****ate Social Responsibility should not be only
the object of academic discussions in business schools), and for
Western institutions to conceive, in coordination with the Chinese
authorities, genuine cooperation projects (modest but concrete actions
are more effective than grandiloquent speeches and spectacular
communication). But Chinese and Western efforts to bring development
in Tibet will have to be articulated with the adaptation of a Buddhist
society to the changes induced by socio-economic modernization.
Media have, among other things, the responsibility to introduce
China's transformation to the Western world. Journalists have to be
open to the Chinese world's significant developments. Often they fail
to do that. The relatively limited coverage of the new dynamics
between Beijing and Taipei is a good illustration of this incomplete
re****ting. On March 22, Ma Ying-Jeou was elected president of Taiwan.
A rapprochement between Beijing and Taipei followed. On April 12,
China’s President Hu Jintao met Taiwanese Vice President-elect Vincent
Siew in Boao, on Hainan island. On April 29, Lien Chan, the ruling
Kuomintang party's honorary chairman, met with Hu Jintao in Beijing.
These encounters pave the way for the intensification of the economic
links between Taiwan and the continent and boost Greater China's
dynamism. Western populations deserve to be adequately informed on
changes of this im****tance.
The current French administration did choose to lead the protest
against what it framed as China's crackdown in Tibet. In March,
Bernard Kouchner, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, declared
that the European Union should consider the idea of boycotting the
opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. It was a mistake. In general,
this French government did not follow what Hubert Vedrine, former
French Minister for Foreign Affairs, recommended in his Re****t for the
French President on France and Globalization (September 2007). "More
modesty on this point [human rights] would more conform with the
reality and would not weaken our concrete efforts to sup****t human
rights."
In July, Paris will take over the rotating presidency of the European
Union. This presidency has to serve the vision of a positive
triangulation between Brussels, Wa****ngton and Beijing. In November
2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said to the Chinese news
agency, Xinhua: "My ambition is to make 2008 a great Euro-Chinese
year." This is a laudable project that has to be implemented.
China will, of course, greatly determine the quality of the
Sino-Western relation****p. Under current cir***stances, Chinese
society should remember that tranquil confidence is a very effective
tool to neutralize all kind of provocative agitations. The Chinese
people have also to know that there are large segments of the West
that welcome China's renaissance and comprehend its contribution to
the world.
In August, Beijing, and also Qingdao, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang,
Qinhuangdao and Hong Kong, will organize what could be one of the most
successful Summer Games. They will manage to do so not because the
Chinese people will be forced to stage a propagandistic display but
because they will take great pride and pleasure in contributing to the
success of a global event. Those who are still calling for the boycott
of a part, or even the totality, of such an event are only making a
demonstration of their ignorance or shortsightedness.
The Games of the 29th Olympiad, and in two years, the Shanghai World
Expo, are two events that illustrate a more fundamental reality:
China's renaissance offers to the world as much as the world brings to
China. Sterile and bitter confrontation will not stop creative
Sino-Western synergy.
David Gosset is director of the Academia Sinica Europaea at China
Europe International Business School, Shanghai, and founder of the
Euro-China Forum. In September 2008, the 7th Euro-China Forum will
take place in Kiev, Ukraine. The opinions expressed in this article
neither engage the Academia Sinica Europaea nor the Euro-China Forum.
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