EMPIRE GAMES
Despite the admirable tenacity and talent of its people, China increasingly appears to be diplomacally challenged
CHINA IS NOT HARD TO LOVE. Growing up to epic depictions of wuxia (武俠), which means “ma ial heroes”, I see it as a wellspring of popular culture that promotes heroism, self sacrifice, integrity and discipline. The famous Ming novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), fu her reinforces a sinophile’s rose-tinted lenses with tales of honour, leadership, patriotism and political idealism, framed within the drama of realpolitik (spoiler ale : it is scheming antagonist Cao Cao 曹操who eventually unifies China instead of beneficent leader Liu Bei 劉備).
It is therefore hard to watch China, with its many legitimate chips on its shoulder resulting from the so called “century of humiliation” (the Opium Wars, the Treaty of Aigun, the Sino-French war, the Sino-Japanese
War, Japanese invasion of Manchuria, etc), become a nascent pariah on the international stage. It might have the wealth and influence now, but China under President-for-life (what a clumsy way to say “Emperor”) Xi Jinping is not making any friends.
Stifling dissent at home and increasingly asse ive abroad, Xi has fought a deadly border clash with India; exacerbated the Spratly Islands debacle by building secretive military installations in the area; forced a draconian national security law on Hong Kong; confiscated Singaporean Armed Personnel Carriers on the way home from a routine military exercise because the li le city-state refused to bend the knee. In general, China is behaving quite the opposite to how modern 20th century superpowers are expected to behave.
Granted, the United States aren’t angels either, but you garner plenty of goodwill when you lead allied forces against Nazi dictators. It also helps when brands like Nike, Levis, McDonalds, and Starbucks are so universally beloved, and your Hollywood productions, so unambiguously po ray the country as
Star-spangled awesome (hello Top Gun, Transformers, Armageddon), that you can wield so power with a light touch in stark contrast to what Xi has been doing to its regional neighbours and to countries it deems weaker than itself.
For years, China worked to assure the international community that its rise was peaceful, that it would not try to ove urn the status quo but Xi’s “bold” moves: engaging in tit-for-tat imposed 80 per cent tariffs on Australian barley a er Canberra pushed for an inquiry into COVID-19, detained two Canadians over Canada’s arrest and potential extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, is demonstrative of actions contrary to stated intentions.
“It changes the whole narrative of China’s intentions. China looks like it has very narrow self-interest that it is pursuing rather than a more cooperative approach, and that means that other countries are going to erect all so s of barriers. There will be real costs – not just reputational but economic costs,” said Susan Shirk, chair of the 21st Century China Centre at the University of California to The Guardian.
Deng Xiaoping once described it as “over concentration of power that leads to policy mistakes”. Why? Because nobody dares tell the leader that this is a bad idea. It is clear that Xi’s power grab has caused more backlash and even self-sabotage. Rising tech-powers within China like Jack Ma’s Alibaba and Tencent have all had their growth cu ailed because Xi brooks no challenge to his power. America remade the world in its image a er World War II with popular culture, Hollywood and Silicon Valley. China could have very well have opted for the same path, but instead, it is picking fights with everyone. Perhaps Xi should read the classics from his native land. A er all, the opening chapter of
三国 says ““The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been”.
”CHINA IS ANGRY. IF YOU MAKE CHINA THE ENEMY, CHINA WILL BE THE ENEMY,”
A CHINESE GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON TO CANBERRA