China should deal with cultural friction with wisdom

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/10/17 0:04:26

The NBA pre-season game between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers is held at the Mercedes-Benz Cultural Center in Shanghai on Wednesday night. Chinese fans distribute the national flag ahead of the game as a fan is seen holding a jersey asking Daryl Morey to resign. Photo: Yang Hui/GT 


Cultural friction between China and other nations is increasing due to various reasons. In the recent NBA row, Chinese netizens called for a boycott. But there is also the opposite. Vietnam has banned the US animated film Abominable over a scene featuring a map with China's "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea. This is not the first time Vietnam has banned cultural products because of the South China sea dispute. The Chinese film Operation Red sea and the American film Crazy Rich Asians were previously banned in Vietnam for similar reasons.

Cultural friction with China is also on the rise in Western societies. The increasing restrictions on Confucius Institute in the US are a case in point. There are more and more voices accusing China of political and cultural infiltration in the West. There will be various chain reactions in the future, and such a trend is hard to  avoid.

Cultural friction is inevitable in any era. It is worth noting that the friction related to China has received more and more attention in the world and has been given more significance in the interpretation of public opinion. 

Since China is in a stage of rise, the probability of external friction is indeed higher than in a static state. The question is how to understand the nature of that friction. What role should China's mainstream public opinion play in it?

China has not been treated on an equal footing with Western society in the field of culture. The country still has border disputes with neighboring countries, plus the Taiwan question. External hostile forces continue to create trouble over Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang and other problems. China has a lot of potential external friction points. When some forces in the US try to create leverage around to put pressure on China, it is not surprising that more friction points are activated.

In such a situation, China first needs to be firm, not shy away from the disputes that are bound to be triggered, and retreat from important principles. At the same time, we need to be strategic and intelligent, and not succumb to the wishes of some hostile forces in the West to make China the hub of cultural disputes. 

We believe that in most cases, Chinese netizens should be supported in their actions against malicious provocations of foreign institutions and individuals. On the other hand, Chinese society should be able to identify the different impacts or degrees of infringement of our national interests caused by those provocative words and deeds, so as to determine the strength of our collective response to them.

On one hand, we need to uphold our principles and maintain the ability of Chinese society to strike back when faced with serious external provocations. On the other hand, we should avoid hitting out in all directions. As China becomes a major power with global interests, such comprehensive management is a fundamental skill in smoothly managing our foreign relations. 

While more power means more external frictions, generally Chinese people will become less angry. We will be less and less willing to vent our ire. This is one of the important dimensions of China's growing maturity as a major country.



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