China’s changing image

SG says the Olympics give China an opportunity to burnish its image at home: they want to say to their people that the Communist Party has given an opportunity to launch China to a standing point it’s not had in over a decade. Second, if the image of China improves globally, that’s a bonus. (Is it possible for the West to view China objectively?) If that were to ever happen, that would be a historical first. Over the last century, America has seen China as an evil power to a potentially Christian power, it’s been a rollercoaster. (What would China like the world to see it as?) A country that has in the last 30 years come along to the point where it is architecturally, economically and culturally the equivalent of the rest of the world. (What’s wrong with those images?) Nothing in particular, but China would like the world to redefine its definition of human rights in China. China would say it’s wrong to judge its record on the West’s definition of human rights. (Is that odd or wrong?) it doesn’t seem odd to them. Residents of Beijing most likely think their life is better now than it was in 1940, for example�and they’d also believe that the West is jealous and trying to put down China with this human rights argument. (Do you think with the Olympics coming up that the West’s view of China will become more nuanced?) It depends on how the Olympics go. It would take one or two crackdowns to present a more negative view of the Olympics. But if things go smoothly, there will be a different image.

++ an excellent interview which is unbiased and objective in dealing with such a nuanced topic.