Sampanviking, on Jul 30 2010, 07:30 AM, said:
You know Ichi, one way to steal a march over established interests is to be the standard bearer of something new and make the establishment look hopelessly out of date.
If I were to suggest one major strategy to China for its soft power, it would be to argue that the Politics of Ideology are as much an historic relic of the 20th Century as Imperialism is of the 19th. China should argue that the 21st century is about the politics of pragmatism and breathtaking human endeavour.
Listening to some of the recent Chinese rhetoric, I think that they are already leaning in this direction and that hopefully and fully crafted policy will emerge to complement its stability policy.
Few Westerners actually understand the concept of China's stability policy and it took me a huge amount of time to really get my head around it and only by substantially changing the way I looked and understood situations. To the West Dispute resolution through security is simply about detente; finding a line on the map that both sides can abide by, however unhappily. The Chinese approach of resolution through stability requires a deeper understanding between the parties; dealing not only with the visible dispute, but the underlying tensions and mistrust that lie behind it. By building trust and understanding the reason for dispute is itself resolved and the territorial resolution is simply a practical matter of practical administration and geography rather then nationalism and pride.
Sell the policy of Stability through the sexier and more PR friendly policy of modern pragmatism, This way even clinging to a dispute for nationalistic or ideological reasons simply makes the other party look backwards and unsophisticated and of itself a matter of shame.
Agreed, and it is the PR that we need to boost up, and keep the stability policy simple and easily understandable, because even among Chinese I sometimes have the feeling not too many would understand.
China message is consistent in this respect:
reject the Western standards and provide an alternative.
http://chinadaily.cn...nt_11069812.htm
China rejects Western standards on human rights
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-30 02:41
BERLIN - China is gradually learning and absorbing ideas on human rights that can grow on its soil, and remains opposed to attempts by the West to impose its standards on China, says Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying.
In a recent interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Fu said it seems "controversial and illogical" that Western countries acknowledge China's economic success and contributions to efforts against the global financial crisis, while "definitely" turning a blind eye to China's political progress.
It seems as if the West wants to say that China has achieved all these without the leadership of the government and the Communist Party, maybe in total anarchy, Fu said.
"I still remember when I was an interpreter in the 1980s, human rights was always on the menu in our dialogues and our European guests brought lists of names with them," she said.
"Thirty years later, China has moved on, and so much has changed. In 2004, protection of human rights was incorporated into China's constitution. Many relevant laws and rules have been amended accordingly," Fu said.
However, European delegations still come to China with the same stance, accusing China in a commanding way, Fu said.
"I really don't hear much mentioning of China' s human rights progress," she said.
Yet, those political extremists seem to be presenting the whole picture of China's human rights for European countries, she said.
Fu believes that to know the real China, it's not enough to "single out things you are interested in, or only listen to people who talk your talk."
The most important is to look at the benefits of the majority of the people, she said.
"If you think your model is the best, and you use them as the ultimate measure of China, you'll find China does not fit," she said, "If the West insists on judging China by its Western standards, expecting China to become a Western-style country, it will always stay misguided."
"Yet, look around at countries that have adopted your system, how successful they are? Which one is doing as well as you are? Have they approached your GDP?" she said, "Maybe it (the Western system) works somewhere, but not necessarily everywhere."
China, with all its success, deserves respect and calm review about itself, Fu said. China is not rejecting any idea of human rights, Fu said. China is learning gradually and absorbing ideas that can be planted and grown and prosper on China's soil.
However, China rejects the ideas imposed on it, the vice minister said.
As for western countries'reports on China, Fu said some of those were tinged with jealousy.
Over the last few years, media reporting about China has been more extensive and balanced, but the jealousy is still there, she said.
She said if that people looked back at Western TV coverage of the rioting in Lhasa in 2008, "you would see on the footage police beating monks, but the police were wearing different uniforms every day. Those were not even Chinese police!"
"I am sure those insiders who put the footage on TV should know it was not from China, but why would they still do that?" she said, "It so damaged the image of your media in China, especially among the young. Your reputation will take a long while to recover from this."
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