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Anti-Western sentiment in China has been increasing since the early 1990s, particularly amongst the Chinese youth.[1] Notable incidents which have resulted in a significant anti-Western backlash have included the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade,[2] the 2008 demonstrations during the Olympic torch relay[3] and alleged Western media bias,[4] especially in relation to the March 2008 Tibet riots.[5] Whilst available public opinion polls show that the Chinese hold generally favourable views towards United States[6], there remains suspicion over the West's motives towards China[6] stemming largely from historical experiences and specifically the 'century of humiliation'.[7] These suspicions have only been exacerbated by the Communist Party's "Patriotic Education Campaign".[8 ]
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On the 7th of May 1999, during Operation Allied Force, NATO aircraft bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese citizens. The US declared that the bombing was an accident caused by the use of outdated maps but few Chinese accepted this explanation.[2] The incident caused widespread anger and following the attack Chinese officials described the bombing as a "barbarian act"[9] and a "war crime"[10] whilst Chinese students in Europe and America demonstrated against 'NATO fascism'.[2] In China thousands were involved in protest marches in Beijing and other provincial capitals, some protesters threw gas bombs and rocks at the diplomatic missions of the United States and other NATO countries[11] whilst in Chengdu the American Consul's residence was firebombed.[2]
Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, the international leg of the Olympic torch relay was subject to widespread demonstrations primarily over China's human rights record and Tibetan independence.[12] In London, thirty-seven arrests were made when protestors clashed with police as the torch made its way through the city[12] whilst in Paris the relay was cut short and the torch transported by bus after protestors disrupted the procession.[13] Protests also took place in Athens,[14] Istanbul,[15] Buenos Aires,[16] Bangkok,[17] Canberra,[18] Nagano,[19] and Seoul.[20] In response, Chinese government officials condemned the protests[21] and overseas Chinese organised 'pro-china' counter-demonstrations at torch processions,[22] joined by counter-protests in many Chinese cities.[3]
Despite the protests being aimed at specific issues, both Western media sources, such as the BBC,[23] and Chinese media sources, such as CCTV,[24] referred to the protestors as being 'anti-China'. In one instance, Chinese news source China Daily reported that "[a]ll the recent protests against the 2008 Olympic torch relay are not against Chinese government, as some protesters repeated. They are against all of the ordinary Chinese people living everywhere in the world".[25]
Chinese activists organised protests outside Carrefour stores in at least 10 Chinese cities[26] and called on shoppers to boycott the French retailer following protests in Paris. Messages distributed via the internet and mobile phones had accused the company of supporting the Dalai Lama,[27] a claim denied by Carrefour CEO Jose-Luis Duran.[28]
Chinese Netizens in both China and overseas have argued that some Western media sources had given 'dishonest' reports about riots in Tibet in March 2008. The activists made several accusations related to photographs used in the reporting of the incident including; the BBC wrongly labelling ambulances as 'military vehicles'; Fox News wrongly labelling Indian policemen as 'Chinese troops'; CNN using cropped photographs which distorted reporting; and Germany's Bild newspaper, N-TV, RTL TV, and the Washington Post labelling Nepalese police involved in clashes with Tibetans in Kathmandu as 'Chinese police'. The Chinese activists argued that the West was trying to 'viciously' tarnish China's image by distorting reports when in their view the violence had been started by Tibetan monks.[29] Some Chinese individuals even contracted foreign journalists directly with threatening messages and in one case, an American media organisation received hundreds of threatening telephone calls and faxes and had to temporarily abandon its bureau.[5]
Accusations of media bias were echoed by Chinese media sources who argued that Western media reports of the Tibet violence had displayed "ignorance and prejudice".[5] In relation to reporting of China more generally, one China Daily article argued that "with few exceptions, only stories about censorship, spoiled food products, human rights issues, dangerous toys and the like... are published".[4]
Whilst Xinhua news agency reported that "[s]ome western media trends have stoked the young people's repulsion to the West and in turn aroused the patriotic passion of the young people".[30]
Fu Ying, the Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom wrote that the Western media had attempted to 'demonise' China and said, "We all know demonisation feeds a counter-reaction. I do pray from the bottom of my heart that the younger generation of Chinese will not be totally disillusioned about the West".[31]
In April 2008 the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded an apology from CNN after news commentator Jack Cafferty referred to the Chinese as a "bunch of goons and thugs". The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Cafferty's comments reflected his "ignorance and hostility toward China" and CNN subsequently issued an apology.[32]
Several websites have been created which challenge the Western media's reporting of China, including anti-cnn.com,[32] whose founder Rao Jin[30] described Western media reporting as "white supremacy".[33]
On the 2nd of March 2009 the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China published a white paper entitled: "Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet". In the paper the defeat of a Tibetan rebellion in 1959 is likened to the American civil war, arguing that China's abolition of Tibetan feudal serfdom was "entirely comparable to the emancipation of the slaves in the American civil war."[34] The white paper goes on to argue that by supporting the 14th Dalai Lama "Western anti-China forces" were guilty of ignoring historical facts regarding Tibet and that:
"It is thus clear that the so-called "Tibet issue" is by no means an ethnic, religious and human rights issue; rather, it is the Western anti-China forces' attempt to restrain, split, and demonize China."[34]
Following CNN's allegedly biased reporting regarding the March 2008 unrest in Tibet, CNN's website was hacked and replaced with a page proclaiming that "Tibet WAS,IS,and ALWAYS WILL BE a part of China". According to a report by Nick Lazaredes for Journeyman Pictures patriotic hacking by Chinese nationalists is on the rise and Western security experts estimate that there are up to 300,000 Chinese hackers ready to wage a cyber-war.[33]
James Kelly, former US assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has noted that nationalistic sentiments and anger over the torch protests was more concentrated amongst Chinese under the age of 30.[1] This view is supported by Zheng Wang who states that most of the participants in China's 1999 anti-American protests and the 2008 Olympic torch counter-demonstrations were college students and young people in their twenties.[35]
In 2008 a report was prepared by the Committee of 100 with the assistance of Zogby International and the Horizon Research Consultancy Group. Entitled "Hope and Fear"[6] the report outlined the results of opinion polls regarding Chinese and American attitudes towards each other. The report found that whilst a significant proportion of the Chinese general public believe that the Western media portrays China inaccurately, Chinese people generally hold favourable views of the U.S. and report themselves as being less 'highly patriotic' then Americans, as shown in the tables below:
| Chinese General Public | Chinese Opinion Leaders | Chinese Business Leaders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 15 | 20 | 44 |
| No | 49 | 53 | 44 |
| Not sure | 36 | 27 | 12 |
| Chinese General Public | Chinese Opinion Leaders | Chinese Business Leaders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Favourable | 60 | 86 | 94 |
| Unfavourable | 26 | 11 | 6 |
| U.S. General Public | Chinese General Public | |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Not at All | 4 | 0 |
| (2) | 4 | 1 |
| (3) | 16 | 24 |
| (4) | 22 | 24 |
| (5) Highly Patriotic | 54 | 47 |
| Not Sure | 1 | 4 |
The causes of anti-Western sentiment in China include the collective memory of the period of Chinese history beginning with the Opium Wars of the 1840s and ending with the expulsion of the Japanese after the Second World War which is known to Chinese as the "century of humiliation"[36] (simplified Chinese: 百年国耻; traditional Chinese: 百年國恥; pinyin: bǎinián guóchǐ),[37] when China was "attacked, bullied, and torn asunder by imperialists".[38] Kenneth Lieberthal, a political science professor at the University of Michigan, has argued that the demonstrations in Western cities during the Olympic torch relay had "deep historical resonance" amongst Chinese and that with China having now regained the international stature it ceded 150 years ago to Western powers Chinese leaders harbour suspicions that "the West is trying to humiliate them again".[7] Supporting this view a 2007 survey found that 45% of the Chinese general public believed that the U.S. was "trying to prevent China from becoming a great power" compared to 32% who believed that the U.S. accepted "China's status as a rising power", 23% were "not sure".[6]
Anti-Western sentiment in China may have also been exacerbated by the communist party's "Patriotic Education Campaign". Zheng Wang[39 ] argues that by the 1990s Communist ideology had drastically declined as a source of legitimacy for the ruling Party and after the Tiananmen Square massacre Party leaders realized that their very survival depended on whether (and how quickly) they could change the younger generation's attitude towards both Western powers and the Communist leadership. Announced in 1991 and fully functioning by 1994, the "Patriotic Education Campaign" was designed to provide the Chinese youth with detailed information about China's traumatic and humiliating experiences at the hands of the West and Japan during the "century of humiliation" and divert protest away from the party towards external 'others'. By skilfully utilizing China's humiliating past in order to arouse Chinese historical consciousness and promote social cohesion, post 1992 a 'victimization narrative' was presented in school textbooks which blamed the West for China's suffering. Subsequently the 1990s and 2000s has seen a surge of nationalism in China with most of those demonstrating in the 1999 anti-U.S. demonstrations and the 2008 Olympic torch counter-demonstrations having received the 'patriotic education'. Both Suisheng Zhao[8 ] and Kenneth B. Pyle[40] argue that the 'Patriotic Education Campaign' is partly responsible for this rise in nationalism. The campaign is currently still well under way without any signs of decline[39 ].
James Kelly has argued that China's censored media may be a "major component" in fostering anti-Western sentiment with China's media giving a "very one-sided" view.[1].
Many Chinese, however, argue that their anti-western sentiment comes from the western media's demonization and one-sided and selective coverage of China.
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