From
Confucius to cable TV, China mobilizes all resources to win hearts and minds
At a time when the rest of the world marvels
at – or perhaps dreads – China’s rise, Beijing perceives a serious weakness in
its own armor: the lack of soft power. For all its economic woes, the West
still possesses ample soft power as evidenced by its cultural domination.
Behind China’s worries also lurk fears about regime stability.
“The overall strength of Chinese culture and
its international influence is not commensurate with China’s international
status,” President Hu Jintao wrote in a January article. “The international
culture of the West is strong while we are weak.”
China is taking this cultural war seriously,
on both domestic and international fronts. Beginning January 1, two-thirds of
entertainment programs on China’s 34 satellite channels, including game shows,
dating shows and celebrity talk shows, were deemed “vulgar” and cut, making way
for programs that “promote traditional virtues and socialist core values.”
Externally, China has set up more than 300
Confucius Institutes and more than 350 classrooms in 96 nations, many linked
with universities, to teach Chinese language and culture. In 2010, China
produced a promotional film, featuring such celebrities as basketball star Yao
Ming and Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing, to polish its image.
China is spending billions to extend its reach
to all corners of the world, primarily through the state-controlled Xinhua news
agency – and its CNC World television news network since 2010 – as well as
China Central Television (CCTV), which started broadcasting from its Washington
hub this week.
China’s approach only highlights the
contradiction.
Soft power almost by definition results from
civil society. American culture, for example, is reflected by such products as
Hollywood movies, Coca-Cola and blue jeans, none of which are government
creations. The Chinese government is trying to create soft power while
repressing major segments of civil society.
Moreover, China is out of sync with much of
the rest of the world. It rejects the universal values of the West, such as
democracy and human rights, but has nothing to replace them with other than
appeal to traditional Confucian values.
The Communist party in October issued a
lengthy document on deepening cultural structural reform and acknowledged the
need to “move forward the construction of a socialist core value system.”
However, aside from slogans like “the spirit of rejuvenating the country” and
“socialism with Chinese characteristics,” it offered nothing concrete.
China’s reputation for heavy-handed censorship
is likely to hamper the growth of its overseas media organizations since few
audiences tolerate propaganda.
Viewers of an official Chinese channel will
want to know whether its journalists cover Chinese developments – politically
sensitive ones – objectively or whether they must toe the party line. Will CCTV
or Xinhua report on the arrests, trials and disappearances of human rights
activists? Will they comment on the case of lawyer Gao Zhisheng, sent to prison
in Xinjiang for allegedly violating the terms of his parole, apparently while
detained by security personnel for the last 20 months?
Such cases of the use of brute power give
China a bad image overseas, and without changing its behavior, there is little
likelihood that Beijing can enhance its soft power.
The contradiction between China’s desire to
enhance its influence while refusing to allow its own people rights and
freedoms taken for granted elsewhere affects China’s position even in its own
backyard. Since 1997, Hong Kong – handed back to China by Britain after a
century and a half of colonial rule – has been a special administrative region,
ostensibly enjoying a high degree of autonomy.
Beijing has worked hard to win the hearts and
minds of Hong Kong’s 7 million people. For example, in 2003, after Yang Liwei,
the first Chinese astronaut, returned from space, he was sent on a tour of the
country. The first city he visited was Hong Kong. In 2007, marking the 10th
anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty, Beijing gave a pair
of pandas to Hong Kong though the city already had two. And in the 2008 Beijing
Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong.
Despite such wooing, many people in Hong Kong
still do not welcome the association with China. In fact, a recent survey
conducted by the University of Hong Kong found that twice as many people
favored the Hong Kong identity over being Chinese.
The Chinese government was not pleased. Hao
Tiechuan, spokesman for the central government’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong,
called the survey “unscientific” and “illogical.” Robert Chung, director of the
university’s Public Opinion Program, which conducted the survey, became the
target of vicious attacks in the pro-Beijing press.
Such surveys are not new. Chung has been
conducting them regularly since 1997, reporting the ups and downs in terms of
Hong Kong people’s identification with China. This time, Chung said, the sense
of Hong Kong identity had reached a 10-year high, while identification with
China had dropped to a 12-year low.
To understand why Hong Kong seems so resistant
to China’s charms, Beijing could perhaps examine its own behavior. Last August,
when Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited the University of Hong Kong, he was seated
in the chancellor’s chair although he was a guest. Three students who attempted
to approach him were thrown to the ground by the police. The furor that
followed overshadowed Li’s attempts at promoting economic development.
Chung insisted that the polling was an
academic exercise unrelated to politics and refused to be drawn into a debate
with his critics, citing "Cultural Revolution-style curses and
defamations.”
But his critics were unrelenting, accusing him
of trying to incite Hong Kong people to deny that they’re Chinese, accepting
“political dirty money” and being linked with a suspected British intelligence
agent. Chung said he had never met the British official.
One commentator, Song Sio-chong, wrote in the
China Daily that the results of the survey were unreliable, undesirable and
dangerous. “Such a distorted survey should not enjoy the so-called academic
freedom,” he concluded. “If the public interest is paramount, then academic
nonsense is not sacrosanct.”
In the face of this onslaught against academic
freedom, part and parcel of Hong Kong’s core values, the Hong Kong government
must tread a fine line. Raymond Tam, secretary for Constitutional and Mainland
Affairs, denied interference by Beijing, saying that “anyone can give opinions
on various matters,” as if Beijing’s spokesman in Hong Kong was just another
individual whose freedom of speech needs to be protected.
Tam went on to say that academic freedom is
protected by the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, and “is an important
social value treasured by Hong Kong.” The government, he said, has been
striving to maintain an environment “so that academics can conduct academic
activities, such as research and survey, uninhibited.”
To strengthen patriotic sentiment in Hong
Kong, Beijing has urged the introduction of “national education” into the
curriculum. Hao, the Chinese official, blandly accepted that this was
tantamount to brainwashing, but said it was something that all countries do.
Of course, Beijing is Hong Kong’s sovereign,
in a position to throw its weight around when carrots like pandas and
astronauts don’t do the trick. But if China wants to enhance its influence
internationally through soft power, it must be sure that the velvet glove hides
the iron fist inside.
Frank Ching
Asia Sentinel
Business & Investment Opportunities
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