Thursday 10 October 2013

China's Views Of America


Blog Week 3: What Does China Think Of America?

             China is a country that is on the rise. Boasting huge amounts of land and the world’s largest population it has also recently overtook Japan as the world’s second biggest economy in the world. Many predict that it will soon topple the United States as the world’s economic leader, and in fact public opinion surveys show many mistakenly believe it already has, with pewglobal.org claiming that a median of 41% of people in 21 countries named China as the world’s leading economic power in comparison to the 37% that named the US. Since China is going to play a huge role in shaping tomorrow’s world, I have chosen to explore the views that Chinese people have of America.
            I begin with an article from chinadaily, an English-language newspaper published in China. Throughout the piece the writer repeatedly criticizes aspects of President Obama’s recent address at the United Nations General Assembly. He starts by mocking the speech, sarcastically calling it ‘exceptional’, an allusion to Obama’s rebuttal of Putin’s criticism of American society. He then proceeds to question the judgment of Obama’s government in its use of drones and in deciding to end the campaign in Afghanistan while Al-qaeda is still in existence. He also criticizes Obama for the continued operation of Guantanamo Bay and for his failure to come clean about the revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in regards to spying activities conducted the government. Finally, he claims the evidence and argument provided by Obama in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria is flawed, and further mocks the U.S. by referencing the use of an anthrax vial by Colin Powell at the 2003 UN Council hearings on Iraq. To conclude, he criticizes Obama claim that it is ‘an insult to human reason’ that other countries do not support his action for military intervention in Syria, arguing that this statement itself is an insult to the intelligence of people around the world.
            I believe that the criticisms leveled at Obama and the US government in the article are valid to a significant degree on factual grounds alone. For example, Obama promised during his first election campaign to close down Guantanamo within a year of being elected, but he has essentially renegaded on that promise, whilst the use of drones has resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths. Furthermore the government’s inability to clarify its position on the allegations of spy activities is very worrying, especially after recent events involving the abuse of journalists at Heathrow. However there are some aspects of the piece that are unfair, such as the criticism of the U.S. military’s retreat from Afghanistan or the mockery of Obama, which is frankly uncalled for.
This piece expresses the views of what we would call a professional or expert, but what about those of people we may consider to be more normal or civilian. Two other sources which are unfortunately not of Chinese origin, can nonetheless provide valuable insight into the views of the Chinese people. The general conclusion in regards to U.S. foreign policy is that when questioned about U.S. influence abroad their opinions are not positive. In fact, they criticize the U.S. as a bully for its military intervention in other countries and ask why it feels the need to try and rule over the world. The actions of the U.S. government were also questioned on the topic of the debt it owed to China, with people asking why the U.S. continues to borrow money from China despite many people there living in poverty, and when they would pay them back. However, there was some praise for the U.S. system, such as the right to free speech, democracy (though one asked whether U.S. citizens really believed the country to be democratic) and for its copyright system. One person also claimed the government “treats it people so well” and “seldom if ever lies to its people”. The people of the U.S. were generally praised as nice, friendly and helpful, whilst aspects of life there, such as technology, charity, economy, jazz and architecture were also held in high regard. With regards to the standard of living in America, people either stated their belief that it was very good or questioned it.
Considering the actions that took place during the Bush era and the continued presence of U.S. military overseas I am inclined to say that the Chinese opinion on foreign policy is valid. However, it can also be argued that expressions of opinions in China need to be treated with great care because of the continued influence of the state on media reporting within the country. Furthermore, the stated belief that the government ‘seldom if ever lies to its people’ could not be further from the truth considering the aforementioned spy allegations. The view that Americans are generally nice people is valid, though we need to consider whether those in China who believe this have actually met more than a few Americans before coming to this conclusion. Likewise the view that the standard of living in America is good may be valid, but needs to be treated with caution as it is most likely that Chinese people, judging only from the limited sources available to them, do not have an extensive knowledge of the country and as such fail to recognize the struggles of those living in the poorest urban and rural parts of the U.S.


No comments:

Post a Comment