The China Threat, Part III

In a recent article posted in the China Daily, the Chinese editor asks: Why is China always haunted by the “China Threat?” Of course, his answer is that any fears about China are illogical, based on ancient stereo types and/or put out by China’s “enemies” or those who are afraid of sharing power with China. In support of his answers he lists off billions of dollars worth of statistics, FDI, GNP, import/export quantities and then rehashes the old line of China as “peaceful neighbor,” and pathetic historical whipping boy.If the problem is that the question of the China threat is still being asked, why does he, or the rest of the Chinese government/education/propaganda machine think that the same old ineffective (by their own admission) answers will solve the problem?I don’t know why others consider China a threat—see my previous posts. But I do know why the “official” answers are not effective. The response to the “China Threat” question provides some insight to the reasons for the continuation of the “threat.” So I thought I’d tackle the official point of view ever so briefly.1. If China really wants to fight “foreign propaganda” that projects China as a threat, the China Daily is probably the single worst possible news outlet to use. If there truly is legitimacy to the arguments put forth by the Chinese government there needs to be an editorial (at least) in a major foreign newspaper. Better yet, an academic study in a periodical or respected journal related to Asian politics. The China Daily reaches only news-starved foreigners in China, and Chinese studying English. CCTV is an equally illegitimate source.2. General answers and random economic statistics in response to a general unreferenced question are not close to scientific and certainly not convincing. The world (the UN, the World Bank, independent foundations, research institutions and scholars) are all pointing to specific documented problems such as: the instability of the Chinese government, the insolvency of the Chinese banking system, the increasing lack of government control over crime, graft, and poverty, the inability or unwillingness of China to be a responsible neighbor (N.Korea, Pakistan, South China Sea Islands), lack of health care, uneven development, rise of (hidden) military expenditures, lack of governmental and corporate transparency, etc. etc. China apologists continually quoting the same FDI statistics doesn’t resolve any of these concerns. In fact it just perpetuates the image of China as an out-of-touch bureaucracy that is increasingly intransient and bellicose with nothing new to say.3. The fact that Chinese apologists (e.g. the People’s Daily) are still asking this question at all says a number of things about the perceptions of the apologists themselves. First, insecurity is a dominant feature in the Chinese mentality—my personally experience is that there are no other people in Asia that are as concerned about what the world thinks of them as are the Chinese. I have often said that the Chinese have a national insecurity complex. Common expressions of this insecurity are: “But we have a 5000 year long history!” “We have 3.5 billion people but can’t find 12 decent football players.” “We will always hate the Japanese.” “America is only 250 years old, how come it is so powerful?” Second, a fear of attack from others (Japan, the US, Vietnam, the world political bodies, etc.) is a constant in the minds of the “historically” oppressed Chinese. Whether from a history of invasion or the government’s constant barrage of misinformation of both, Chinese apologists seem to be in perpetual fear of an imminent attack from abroad. The reality is that instability at home is a much bigger threat.4. A threat by any other name… While China is not a threat to the US, the US certainly is in danger of losing it’s position as the world’s only super power, economically at least, with the rise of China. But, like I’ve said before, China isn’t a threat as much as are a lack of quality education and major consumer debt in the US. Maybe the US is also using the specter of a powerful China to deflect domestic criticism. Hmmm….I think that this is the answer—the China threat lives on mostly in the minds of Chinese who see themselves as victims of the global system in general and of American (previously British) capitalism in specific. They deflect criticism of current domestic situations by harping on the “threat” and persecution from the outside. The world both salivates over China’s markets and shudders in fear of its lack of transparency, standards and ethics in business.China’s own lack of domestic stability and paranoid bureaucracy is the only “China threat.” And this threat is only a threat to China itself.