Entering an era of grass-roots diplomacy
- Source: Global Times
- [02:00 September 10 2010]
- Comments
Florida pastor Terry Jones' threat to burn copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks evoked fierce condemnation in the Islamic world.
Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and General Petraeus have all condemned the statement as well. However, the radical reverend's threat still puts US troops' lives at risk.
This is not the first time that an individual's behavior triggered a diplomatic disturbance. In 1989, Iran declared the termination of its diplomatic relations with the UK because of British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (1988). In 2005, 12 caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper led to one of Denmark's worst international crisis since World War II.
The populace is becoming an extra variable to a country's diplomacy. Decades ago, diplomacy was largely a mysterious game played by politicians within certain inner circles. However, with the rise of mass media, especially the Internet, diplomacy is not just the jurisdiction of diplomats anymore.
While issuing a diplomatic policy, each country needs to gain support from the domestic population. Grass-roots opinions, in turn, accelerate the decision-making efficiency in diplomacy. Looking at recent US history since the Gulf War, one would find that its domestic anti-war voices were not as loud as today's.
Whether governments like it or not, ordinary people are complicating the world's diplomatic dynamics on a higher degree.
New media, like the Internet, serves as a loudspeaker that amplifies individual voices and then delivers them around the globe.
Authorities have to look squarely at this fact and explore ways to adapt to and acknowledge it. China, undoubtedly, is not an exception.
Previously, China had a relatively low transparency in its diplomatic activities, and ordinary Chinese were barely involved in its external affairs. Over the past decades, the populace's passion for participating in diplomacy has soared.
At the moment, average Chinese are keenly aware and knowledgeable on foreign affairs. However, patriotism and nationalism can flow constantly into society. After all, ordinary people are not professional analysts and politicians. Some individual opinions inevitably appear emotional and one-sided, and sometimes may cause trouble for governments.
Mature, reasonable grass-roots voices can serve as pivotal points for a government's diplomacy. They can also help the nation maintain more stable and balanced diplomatic relations.
As the world pushes the start button of the grass-roots era of diplomacy, governments should help foster reasonable and fair grass-roots opinions, while learning to deal with trouble caused by a few radical individuals. The latter is the inevitable cost of opening diplomacy to the populace.
