R-E-S-P-E-C-T doesn't mean to them what it means to me

Originally published in April of 2008 as a response to the Tibetan freedom protests in San Francisco, London, and Paris.

Being the first American that many Chinese people meet, even in a large city like Xi’an, I’m often peppered with questions about how the West perceives China. It’s a complicated conversation to have because most people I run into believe that the West is ignorantly and permanently succumbing to an anti-China bias. In response to this perceived phenomenon I’ve made the focus of classes this last week revolve around how to deal with anti-China protests. It’s been a revealing and occasionally frustrating experience.

The root of these frustrations stems from a very different concept of government vis self in China as opposed to in the West. When I get in front of a group of my students, even the ones I have a very good relationship with, and talk about international politics, I am not viewed as someone with an individual opinion. I’m viewed as representative of my culture, my country, and am intrinsically tied to my government. This is only made worse because of the general feeling that foreign governments are, again, attempting to interfere with and dominate China. This perception, which is encouraged by the media, colors everything I say as suspicious and possibly manipulative.

To try and break through this cultural wall I presented myself not as representative of a country that is protesting Chinese actions but as a citizen of the most protested against country on Earth. In the two months prior to the second Iraq war the United States and the United Kingdom were protested by 36 million people in nearly every country on the planet. It isn’t fun to have your country protested against even if you agree with the sentiments of the protesters… or even if you’re one of the protesters. The comparison between 36 million protesters and the less than 100,000 that have protested China in the last few months impressed some people but was met with objections from others because the anti-China protests are largely aimed at “internal Chinese issues.”

There’s a cultural tradition in China of ignoring anything that happens in your neighbor’s house because it is, well, not your house. This logic follows through to international relations and unfortunately China tends to perceive its house as the least ignored on the planet. This is of course not the case. As far as being the recipients of global scrutiny goes the countries of Europe and North America usually receive a greater amount of criticism than those of East Asia.

The U.S. election of 2004 received not only mountains of media scrutiny but spurred people from all over the world to write letters to American swing voters in an ill-advised attempt to sway them towards voting for John Kerry. This backfired and the targeted group of voters actually swung heavily towards George Bush. There is even a hilarious string of responses from Americans that took umbrage at this interference. On the day after the election a UK newspaper led with the headline of “How can 59,054,087 people be so stupid?” An editorial in the Guardian even went a step further and advocated the assassination of President Bush. (Though this was later retracted.)

This is significant because the United States has no closer friend than the United Kingdom. These two countries express their mutual respect through economic, political, and military cooperation. That’s the love language of the West. We get along well because we know how to pay deference to each other. Unfortunately China communicates respect in another way.

From China’s perspective there’s no respect so long as we freely criticize their internal politics. This irks the United States because of the incredible economic benefits that China receives due to our relationship; a relationship that is often viewed in the United States as unfairly stilted towards China. Indeed, the Chinese response to criticisms and protests, like the current demand for Ed Cafferty to apologize for stating his opinion of the Chinese government, confuses the West because we are so used to criticizing each other and reaffirms preconceived notions that the government is unsophisticated and something of a bully.

It’s going to take time for the government to adjust to criticism but it doesn’t have much of a choice in this matter. The protests will not stop. The only way to avoid international scrutiny is to shut off all contact with the wider world and that would include disrupting the economic benefits which are so essential to China’s relative prosperity.

It’s essential for China and the West to understand each other’s perspectives on respect and that will require a level of sophistication that everyone’s government is currently lacking. It isn’t going to be easy and the most frustrating job is undoubtedly going to be on the side of the Chinese government. This country is gaining admission to the rest of the world due to its economic potential and the larger share of adjustment will be placed on China’s shoulders… it’s a task that we shouldn’t envy. From my perspective Iraq looks a lot simpler.