How can China speak to the world?
- Source: Global Times
- [22:19 August 17 2009]
- Comments
Illustration: Liu Rui
Editor’s Note:
As a rising power, China needs to have a stronger voice in global society. The following is an interview about this issue by the Global Times reporter Wu Huaiting with Li Xiguang (Li), the executive dean of the School of Journalism at Tsinghua University, Sun Shaojing (Sun), associate professor of the School of Journalism at Fudan University and Gong Shengli (Gong), chief researcher of Guoqing Neican, a weekly magazine published as internal reference for China’s ministries.
GT: Why has China often been depicted in a negative way in the Western media?
Gong.: For the past 60 years, China has always had a weak voice in the world. Even as a member of the UN Security Council, China does not have a strong voice. Why? China’s political system is one of the reasons. Because they don’t agree with China’s political system, the Western countries not only don’t listen to China’s voice, but also criticize China in many ways.
Today China is the third biggest economy in the world, right behind the US and Japan. In the future, China will be the only country that could challenge the hegemony of the US. In comparison with its position in the world, China’s contributions to global discourse fall short.
A world-renowned expert on image building commented that in the future China will be an indispensable “hero” at the world “banquets.” However, the hero can only attend all the banquets, but not host them or suggest the location and courses for serving. China is a hero, a central character, but not a decision-making host. Even in the shaping of G20, China contributes only as one-twentieth of the speakers.
Sun: In recent years, a host of events, such as the milk crisis and Tibet unrest, have make China a target of criticism. Rebuilding China’s image in the world is not simply a question of communication. Communication is neither the cause, nor the solution to most problems and conflicts between China and the West.
Many nations are concerned with their images in the world because images are powerful nowadays. But images are not powerful unless the entity behind them earns trust, otherwise the images are just illusionary and ephemeral.
So, when a government encounters problems with its image, trust needs to be brought up to the line and closely examined. Trust is hard to establish but easy to breach. The milk crisis and pet food poisoning enormously damaged others’ trust on products made in China.
Moreover, the influence of breaching trust is contagious and widespread. Such impact in one area can translate to other areas. Not only did the milk crisis damage others’ trust in food made in China, but it also worsens people’s trust in China’ human rights, organizational efficiency, environmental protection efforts, and other issues.
GT: What is the media’s role in creating a biased image of China? How can we deal with the existing stereotypes about China?
Li: In many cases in recent decades, media have become a catalyst in breeding hatred and fueling divide, violence and war.
Relying upon unreliable sources and reporting incomplete and biased stories, bad journalism causes mistrust, suspicion and ignorance between different peoples.
“Every one is biased. You cannot blame the media alone,” a friend told me, defending the biased media reporting. But where do our biases come from? We are not born with biases. Our biases of mistrust and suspicion of other people come from our education and consumption of the mass media.
The enemies are people’s ignorance, intolerance, misunderstanding and mistrust of each other. Using certain value system as the criterion for political correctness, the media demonize others.
