By Philip Yeung
In a week's time, America will swear in its next president. Lame duck Biden has disappeared into the woodwork. Never has an incumbent been so totally overshadowed by his incoming replacement. These days, Trump is everywhere. He dominates the airwaves. He is lapping up all the attention and adulation. He is dictating the global narrative.
Trump has painted China as a threat to US supremacy. But by most metrics, China is streets away from being a superpower.
China is a proud no.2. with no ambition being no.1 and all its headaches
What exactly is a superpower anyway? Economic power alone doesn't do it. Military power by itself won't cut it. Moral authority on its own is a necessary but insufficient condition. To be an undisputed superpower, you need all three in spades, plus a cluster of alliances, aided by the power of technology and the ubiquitous reach of social media. By these metrics, America alone qualifies as the sole hegemon. China is only lurking around the edges. The "China threat" theory is, to borrow Trump's favorite word, a hoax. It is dragged out every time America wants to tighten the noose around China's neck. When America barks, its allies bark in unison. They act in concert. This makes the US more dangerous than Nazi Germany. Why? Hitler might have overrun Europe, but nobody bought its values. Japanese imperialists also acted solo. All they had was brute force, and nothing more.
But America is different. It owns the hero's halo after helping to defeat Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. The world is beholden to it as its savior. But that 75-year-old gloss is wearing off. After disasters in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now Gaza, with the slaughter of millions of innocent civilians, America the good has turned ugly. Unchallenged supremacy has made America cocky and callous, leaving it with only a damaged moral compass. Trump makes no bones about his "America-First" doctrine. International rules exist to be broken-- by the rule-maker. That's the prerogative of a superpower. America demands unquestioning homage. Now with a convicted criminal in charge, what else do you expect?
The Chinese handicap
China is severely handicapped. It is tongue-tied speaking the global language. It can't think in English and has zero influencers on global media platforms. Without a voice, without shared values, China has limitations as a major player, in the face of a barrage of disinformation. It might possess military muscle sufficient for self-defense, but woefully inadequate for foreign conquests. To the Chinese, the western mind is a foreign country. Western public opinion is overwhelmingly anti-Chinese. If America fights China, China fights alone. But America is surrounded by surrogates. That is why the US dares to poke its nose into the combustible Taiwan Strait.
Encircled and basically unallied, what is China to do?
Let Western tourists see China, unfiltered
China is by no means at the end of the rope. It has successfully befriended the Global South. In recent months, it has opened up visa-free travel to visitors from the West. Mass tourism is the best antidote to malicious anti-China propaganda. It is good for its image, and its economy. But it needs to happen on an industrial scale. Make visa-free entry the rule, not the exception. Let more westerners come to see how safe, rational, well-governed, and foreign-friendly China is. As the economy sputters, precious tourist dollars also come in handy. Word-of-mouth endorsement from millions of western tourists may turn the tide. In the global age, peace-making is a mass effort, not an elitist maneuver.
Overseas Chinese make lousy lobbyists
But please don't ask Chinese living overseas to actively promote China's cause. Ugly episodes in Australia, Canada, Britain and America prove that any pro-China lobbying by individual Chinese immigrants leaves them open to the ridiculous charge of espionage. Besides, their individual efforts are only a drop in the bucket.
We need Elon Musk-like spokesmen
Why not also offer foreign firms favorable terms for doing business in China? Heads of foreign businesses make first-rate lobbyists. Elon Musk is a classic example. Dictated by enlightened self-interests, they get receptive hearing for Chinese products, services and philosophy. One sympathetic western business leader is worth more than an army of diplomats
Globalization is a two-way street—why not a reverse flow of foreign students to China
Sponsor footloose foreign students to study in China. But to receive this flood of foreign students, China needs a larger pool of lecturers proficient in English. They are likely to return home singing the praises of Chinese hospitality. Sponsor them to write their China experiences and observations that China is no monster or oppressor. They are China's best ambassadors.
Finally, China needs to rethink its approach to the teaching and learning of English. Rote learning is low-level and dysfunctional. China needs silver-tongued PR professionals, not just scientists and technocrats. Don't waste money on sponsored agencies such as Confucius Institutes which are suspiciously regarded as subversive Chinese mouthpieces. Besides, they don't close the culture gap.
People-to-people diplomacy is the way to neutralize Western media bias. The country that has engineered the biggest economic miracle in history can surely perform another miracle on its tourist industry. Forget megaphone diplomacy shouting matches. China needs an army of Marco Polos to tell its story.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
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