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The dangers of inflaming Chinese nationalism
Zhang Quanyi
The international community is putting the
squeeze on China ahead of the Games. But if the full fervour of
Chinese nationalism is inflamed, the consequences might be
disastrous: not a good thing for a state with mighty military
power.
China is now facing a major challenge from within
and without the country, in the wake of [the recent] Tibetan
riots, which began in Lhasa and spread to different counties of
Tibet as well as parts of Gansu and Sichuan provinces that are
inhabited primarily by Tibetans. According to China's official
Xinhua news agency, numerous shops, banks, malls, government
offices and even police offices in different areas were either
robbed, burned or destroyed by Tibetan mobs.
In addition to dealing with this internal situation, China has
had to face waves of international criticism over its crackdown
on the Tibetan uprising. This has been most apparent in the
protests that have disrupted the Olympic torch relay, especially
in Europe and the United States.
Within China, reports of these protests have been met with anger
and dismay, inflaming a corresponding wave of Chinese
nationalism. The increase of anti-China sentiment in the West
ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games could have disastrous results
if efforts are not made to calm the situation ahead of the
Summer Games.
The Tibetan protests and subsequent crackdown on monks and
others no doubt tarnished the image of China. The fact that this
has led to attacks on the Beijing Olympics has been a blow to
the Chinese, who had hoped to take advantage of the Olympic
Games to promote their image and their "soft power" around the
world.
Big countries like the United States, France and Britain have
expressed great concern over China's management of Tibetan
affairs. In response, the Chinese government has accused Western
media of intentionally tarnishing China's image by publishing
false reports about the events in Tibet, including mistakenly
identifying scenes of police battling with protesters in Nepal
as taking place in Lhasa. Some media have even compared China's
hosting of the Olympics to that of the Nazi regime under Adolf
Hitler, when Germany held the Olympics in 1936.
Even at the torch-lighting ceremony held in Greece, the
birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, protestors showed up to
interfere as Beijing official envoys were receiving the torch. A
similar unhappy incident occurred in Istanbul, Turkey, and
things only got worse after that, with protests in London and
Paris leading to the dousing of the flame twice.
A few Tibetans and Muslim Uyghurs from the Chinese province of
Xinjiang have been involved in attempts to disrupt the torch
relay. The Chinese government has blamed both groups of trying
to undermine the Beijing Olympics. It has also blamed the Dalai
Lama and supporters of Tibet's independence based in India of
organizing the protests both inside and outside China.
Western leaders have been aggressive in adding oil to the fire.
French President Nikolas Sarkozy warned he might boycott the
opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel also said she would not attend. U.S.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi even said the International
Olympic Committee had made a mistake in awarding the 2008 Summer
Olympics to China. On April 9, the U.S. House passed a
resolution criticizing China over "repression" in Tibet. China
expressed strong indignation over this, saying it would
encourage pro-independence forces.
In contrast to the negativity swirling around the Olympics
outside of China, within the country the people still hold a
passionate and romantic view of the Games. As the Olympic
opening day approaches, Chinese aspirations for the event to be
a great success grow ever more intense.
Hosting the Games successfully is the long-cherished dream of
the whole Chinese nation. People ranging from the bottom
individual to the top state institutions have already spent
tremendous energy in preparing for the event. Even overseas
Chinese are proudly anticipating China's success at holding the
modern Olympic Games.
The Chinese also take it for granted that the success of this
event will play a role in spiritually or symbolically erasing
their country's designation as the "sick man of Asia," a term
given to China by Western colonialists in the late 1800s.
The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in fact was China's second bid
for the Games. China had wanted to host the 2000 Summer
Olympics, and put tremendous effort into its bid at that time.
In fact, the whole nation had taken it for granted that China
would be successful. Unfortunately China lost by only two votes
and Sydney, Australia became the host city.
This failure cast the whole nation into a feeling of dismay, if
not shame. The nation had a similar experience during the long
process of its application to join the World Trade Organization
in the late 1990s. When China was declared unsuccessful in its
bid, the Chinese people felt a great loss of face and a deep
disappointment. These failures resulted in a series of anti-U.S.
movements, as the Chinese began to grow suspicious about U.S.
motives in seeking to contain China's rise or economic take-off.
When the U.S.-led NATO "unintentionally" bombed the Chinese
Embassy in Belgrade in 1999, and in 2001 a U.S. EP-3
surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter, killing
Chinese pilot Wang Wei, the fire of Chinese nationalism and
anti-Americanism flared to levels that were temporarily
uncontrollable and unpredictable. The U.S. Embassy and
Consulates in China were surrounded by excited Chinese people,
who attacked them by throwing eggs and rocks and even setting
fires.
The Chinese people have looked forward to the Olympic Games with
intense anticipation. Their success will be the realization of a
sweet dream for the whole nation. If their dream is shattered,
it will make China lose face and deeply pain the Chinese people.
If the full fervor of Chinese nationalism is inflamed, the
consequences might be disastrous. If the Games are ruined, the
nation might feel compelled to take some sort of retaliatory
action against the international community in order to release
the pent-up anger of the people. China's cooperative attitude in
the international arena could shift, so that rather than a mere
breaker of international norms, China could become a wild card.
This is not a good thing for a state with mighty military power.
First published in Asia Online. Republished
with kind permission from the author. ©Copyright Zhang Quanyi. |
