Shanghai will soon host the world’s largest expo fair: a cultural and economic show expected to attract millions of visitors from over 100 countries. It is the ultimate show of public diplomacy and is themed “Better city – Better life”.
It is another very public example of how China is trying to shed its old image and for all of the world to see the “better city” that is Shanghai. China is attempting to move itself into the mainstream of politics in the sense that they can be open negotiators and positive trade partners. It cannot do this while the rest of the world harbour concerns about issues such as human rights and the socialist regime in place. A country so powerful that does not conform to the ‘Western’ view of the world has always previously been thought of as very dangerous (Russia before the Cold War for example), and China, with this public diplomacy is attempting to alter this view.
The Chinese foreign minister claims that the world expo is at the top of the public diplomacy agenda for the Chinese. This shows just how important it is to China that the rest of the world do not feel threatened by their way of life and their politics. That such a show would generate such global interest is testament to the complete globalisation of politics in today’s society, and the subsequent importance of global diplomacy.
China continues to undermine its efforts at public diplomacy with incidents such as that with Google where the multinational search engine pulled out of China claiming that its accounts were being hacked in order to determine and subsequently ban certain users. China was effectively silent on the issue. Their politics are indeed different to what the majority of the developed world is used to.
The Olympic games in 2008 was the first real global attempt by the Chinese to engage in public diplomacy and while the games went without a serious hitch, it was clear to the rest of the world that China was not being totally honest: the national announcement to prevent citizens from wearing the facemasks used to protect against the Shanghai pollution, normally omnipresent in the city serves as an example of how China is attempting to open up to the rest of the world but only letting it see what it chooses for us to see.
It is phenomenal to think in the modern society that one country consistently attempts to block information from reaching the outside world, and from outside information reaching their people. China perhaps realises the damage that will be done to their public relations with the rest of the world if the (possible) truth about their country is revealed. Perhaps they need to take the next step; full public diplomacy, and accept the consequences that this holds, and perhaps the benefits that may be reaped if the world finally learns to trust China and its policies.
http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/03/07/1821s554753.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-brown/chinas-public-diplomacy-h_b_515546.html
I agree with you when you say that China is trying to hide to the world its bad policies with its public diplomacy, however I think It has not been very successful. In fact, in my view, China Does pretty well when it is not in the spotlight, but when China is in the limelight, many problems arise. I mean that since the information coming in and going out from China are very restrained it is easier for the country to select the information it wants to realise, however when it comes to great events such as the olimpic games it is more difficult for the country to restrain information and obviously its bad policies come at the fore, as the 2008 Olympic games brought the issue of Tibet at the table.
ReplyDeleteprobably the Expo is gonna have the same negative effect for China as the Olympic Games did.
The point I want to make is that it is futile and useless that China is so powerful in controlling its information release, and that it uses such a deceptive and illusionary public diplomacy, because every time the attention is focused on the country, all this efforts disappear and the global public opinion sees who really China is.
Probably if China really wants to improve its image, it should change its policy, because development is not just an economic matter, but there is a human face in it as well.
I believe that China is the perfect example of contradiction between economics and social welfare.
ReplyDeleteThe Beijing Olympic Games of 2008 and the Expo are, in my opinion, a way for China to demonstrate their economic power rather than the welfare of their citizens. Both of those events fall under public diplomacy, I agree, but in a way to show their economic capabilities rather than their social welfare. Those events take place to attract foreign investments rather than try to improve their image in the eyes of foreign audiences. When the French Prime Minister went to China a couple of years ago and tried to raise the issue of Human Rights there he was humiliated by the Chinese representant who stated that they have very little to learn from a country that has only 65 million people and still struggles with crime and other social issues.
The fact is, in my opinion, that China simply needs an authoritarian leader to keep the country from falling into chaos in the expense of freedom of expression and other violated Human Rights.
In the end of the day, China cares very little of coming off as an undemocratic state so far as it still attracts huge amounts of foreign investment through the implementation of foreign companies on their soil. Similarly those companies care very little of implementing themselves in an undemocratic state so far as they can have cheap labor and avoid paying taxes (or at least pay less taxes).
In the end of the day, there is no international law and western state will not take action against the wrongdoings of China. A good example of this is the Russian invasion of Georgia, that did not result in any sanction against the former (because of the European oil dependency on Russia).
It is good to see China trying to use public diplomacy. Even this invite to the expo with not cover up the human rights issues in China. However I feel the world by engaging with China they are actually encouraging it. I think countries condone China but they are the ones trading with China. As long the economic boom in China exist countries will keep trading with China because they are benefiting from its economy. Its not like China is opening its doors to the world but the world is eager to get into China.
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