THE most recent Pew Research survey of adult views of China found a median of 67% expressing unfavourable views, with 28% having favourable opinions in 24 countries.
Unfavourable views were largely concentrated in high-income countries such as the US, Australia, Sweden, South Korea and Japan. It was notably high in the US, where 50% of respondents named Beijing as the greatest threat to Washington.
Within the Asean countries, the latest Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute annual survey showed China as being preferred over the US by 50.5% of respondents compared with 49.5%.
China was also chosen as the most influential economic power in the region by most respondents, with 59.9% picking it over the US.
Away from surveys with their built-in agendas and bias, a dramatic shift in popular opinion on China is taking place as the world and China return to normalcy after the country’s “zero-Covid” policy shut the country to international tourists for more than four years.
In the first two months of 2024, China recorded 2.95 million inbound and outbound trips by foreigners, an increase of 2.3 times compared with 2023. Should this trend continue, we may see a new phase in the war waged against China by Western media supported by its Asian allies. This new phase pits the Davids of ordinary travellers with modest resources against the Goliaths of Western media augmented by the enormous financial resources of China’s opponents.
According to a recent Reuters report, two years into his presidential office, Donald Trump authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to former US officials with direct knowledge of the highly classified operation.
Three former officials told Reuters that the CIA created a small team of operatives who used bogus internet identities to spread negative narratives about Xi Jinping’s government while leaking disparaging intelligence to overseas news outlets. The effort, which began in 2019, had not been previously reported.
It has been expanded, judging by the constant stream of anti-China reporting by CNN, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Nikkei Asia, Sydney Morning Herald and other non-Western media drawing their news from the Western agencies that dominate the international media market. This hitherto, one-sided battle is now more evenly fought out.
In the daily media contestation, travellers from around the world are covering every part of China – the megacities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and others; second to fifth-tier cities; out of the way and allegedly repressed, exploited and unsafe provinces such as Xinjiang, Tibet and other areas with large non-Han and indigenous populations; rural and urban poor and less developed areas, side lanes and alleys.
Armed with audio and photographic equipment and with an increasing number of flying drones to capture the beauty of the countryside as well as probe into forbidden or the ugliest and least developed parts, these mainly budget and backpacker travellers provide evidence of a society, government and nation different from that provided by the more sedentary highly paid journalists, operating from Washington, London, Tokyo, Taipei, New Delhi and others ensconced in five-star hotels.
Unlike their professional counterparts who have to struggle for anti-China angles and stories to justify their job and career advancement, the vloggers have absolute freedom to go anywhere and video and comment on everything that they come across.
There is no China mission to justify. No editorial panel to oversee their work. No concern that they may be at risk for writing a story or reporting news construed as favourable to China. No claim that they are living up to journalistic values of integrity, honesty, fairness, balance, independence and credibility. No need to give priority to any political or commercial interest, except their own.
Many of these vloggers come from developed countries with pronounced anti-China sentiments among some of their fellow citizens - US, Canada, UK, Japan, Australia and some EU countries. An increasing number come from Africa, the Middle East, South America and elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific.
They all, with a few exceptions of paid cyber troopers, marvel at the China they are discovering. Fed with an incessant stream of news and stories that go beyond just being partisan into the realm of propaganda by the guardians of the old world order determined to bring China down, these Davids were expecting an authoritarian police state; the absence of freedom of speech, expression, religions; human rights abuse and slave labour; repression of Uyghurs, Muslims and minorities.
Some expected zombie-like citizens cowed and silenced by the ubiquitous surveillance cameras training down and snooping into every nook and corner of China. Others relate how they have been fed stereotypes of China as unsafe; the Chinese as inscrutable and anti-foreign; the government as xenophobic and power crazy.
The great majority have gone home with a new and favourable awareness. More than a few are enchanted by their experience and better knowledge of China’s history, culture, economy and food.
When they post their videos they receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of comments sharing feedback on what the readers have viewed or experienced themselves; and very often favourably comparing China’s government and political system with their own country, and stating how they have been deceived by their home media about China.
The responses from commentators are spontaneous and unscripted. Some provide alternative, less positive and greater concerns of China’s government and society; and they often begin an extended debate. But all of this is carried out in a freewheeling and participatory fashion unlike what is available from the mainstream media where the comment pages are often disabled, made inaccessible or carefully controlled.
In 2021, the BBC, the self-proclaimed paragon of “impartial, high-quality and distinctive output” ran a lead story on “The Foreigners in China’s Disinformation Quest”. The article had several objectives. The first was to demonise British expatriates posting stories counter to that which the BBC was running on Xinjiang, Hong Kong and other anti-China fodder; and to play up fears and anxieties about China’s development.
The second was to incite Western governments to crack down on YouTube where the British vloggers alleged China state-sponsored videos were streaming.
TikTok has been targeted for cancellation. Now that foreign travellers are rediscovering China, if Western media and governments have their way, YouTube may become the next victim of their China reporting and campaign.
Lim Teck Ghee’s Another Take is aimed at demystifying social orthodoxy. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
