Since 2015 when we ended our last episode on America Through Chinese Eyes, a great deal of change has happened in the political culture of both countries. China and the US have since redefine their diplomatic relationship which has led to a new Chinese perspective on America. In a nutshell, the relationship has evolved to a more somber and mutually suspicious stance. Three major factors driving the change in China are the leadership of President Xi Jinping, the increased strength of the Chinese economy, and China's new rule of engagement on the international stage. Let's look at these three elements one by one. At times called the chairman of everything, Xi quickly assumed three of the most powerful offices in China, the presidency, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission as soon as he came to power. With the consolidation of political and military power in his hands, Xi engineered the removal of term limits for the presidency thereby paving the way for potentially serving as president for life. He is the only leader after Mao to have his name and his ideology, Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era mentioned in the preamble to Chinese constitution. Under Xi's leadership, the party issued an internal document number nine which declared that Western democracy and universal values of human rights as well as several other subversive currents will undermine the power of the party unless they were eradicated. Consequently, China is tightening internal control on its citizens with the use of cyber technology. It developed a comprehensive surveillance system by registering a person's ID number, bank account information, facial and voice features in a national database. It's effectiveness was demonstrated when Jackie Chong, a popular singer from Hong Kong, performed to large crowds and various cities in China, eleven men on the most wanted list were caught by the authorities when they passed through the arenas security checkpoints equipped with facial recognition technology. This surveillance system enables the Chinese state to monitor movements of people whom it deems dangerous and subversive, especially those influenced by American and other foreign ideas. Another example is a new way to engineer behavior with the introduction of a social credit system. The system rewards desirable behavior and punishes bad behavior based on information collected from government data, corporate records, online shopping, social media usages, and private reporting by citizens. Needless to say, targeting social behavior is another way to root out the perceived corrupting influence of foreign, mostly Western and American ideas. Finally, China's imposing cyber sovereignty within its borders by building a virtual firewall thereby controlling information access and limiting the inflow of foreign ideas and culture. Therefore in the past four years, the Chinese state is increasingly portraying the West especially America as a political adversary with dangerously subversive ideas. These ideals include; constitutionalism, civil society, universal values, and the promotion of the West view of media. But as we shall see, this is not necessarily the view of the Chinese people. In 2018, China displaced Japan as the world's second largest economy and is now considered a middle-class society. It is the world's biggest market for passenger cars, smartphones, luxury goods and beer. Yet China has defined Western expectation as expressed by American President George H. W Bush in 1990 that greater commercial interaction with China will bring liberalization of the Chinese economy and greater openness. Instead of opening up the economy to greater competition, President Xi has chosen the state capitalist model. He is strengthening the power of state-owned enterprises and reviving the party committees embedded in every Chinese company. Similar communist party committees have even been put in place in foreign and American multinational corporations and management needs to seek permission from these committees for all major decisions. Self-censorship such as not mentioning the Dalai Lama, or human rights violations and taking China's position on Taiwan is another price that Western businesses are willing to pay in order to remain in China. Foreign companies that hope to capture China's huge market such as Google and Apple have often agree to sign joint venture agreements on the condition of transferring technology to their Chinese partners. Despite American willingness to sacrifice core Western values and best practices to obtain a share of the lucrative Chinese market, multiple instances of Chinese breaches of fair play China's hacking in China's dealing of US intellectual property had been revealed in the past. It is estimated that the US loses intellectual property worth up to $600 billion a year as a result of foreign theft and mostly to China. China defending its record claims that it is itself a victim of cyber attacks coming from the US. It complains of US dominance in the cyber world from technological standards to basic facilities. The China-US relationship has taken a negative direction under President Trump. In July 2018, Trump imposed tariffs on a quarter trillion dollars worth of Chinese imports and in retaliation, China increased tariffs on about half as much of American goods. Both sides are unwilling to back down and yet both countries suffer the negative consequences of such actions. American farmers especially the soybean growers have been hurt by the increased tariffs. Trade talks have begun in March 2019 between high-level officials of both countries. China has become more suspicious of us intentions and it's growing strength had made it less willing to compromise. On the global stage, China's strategy is not so much to replace the US as the world's hegemonic power but to displace the US where Chinese national interests are paramount. Therefore, Beijing considers US alliances and military presence in the Pacific region as direct threats to China's interests in Taiwan, on the Korean Peninsula and in the East and South China Seas. Militarily, China's People's Liberation Army is modernizing rapidly. Military bases have been installed on disputed islands and China has just secured its first overseas military base in Djibouti. This is an indication of China's plan to eventually use up the American military dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. China has created a set of regional and international institutions that excludes the US such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or AIIB. Modeled after the World Bank, the AIIB is one of the biggest financial institutions in the world today. It provides funding for development projects in the Asia Pacific region. The One Belt One Road initiative kicked off by Xi Jinping in 2013 involves two parts. The first part encompasses the construction of roads, railroads, and pipelines connecting China to Europe via Central Asia along the ancient still trade route. The second part involves a Maritime Silk Road linking China's Eastern ports to Europe via Southeast Asia. There are 900 such projects underway. In launching this initiative, China is creating its own sphere of influence thereby forging American interests in Southeast and Central Asia. Most importantly, we must distinguish the Chinese people's view from the government's view of America. Chinese people continue to view multiple aspects of American life favorably. The air, food, and water qualities are considered much higher and safer in the US. They appreciate the rule of law, the strength of the American Constitution and America as a well-functioning democracy. The Chinese believe that the American school system with his emphasis on creativity and critical thinking skills is superior. Wealthy Chinese today continue to move their assets abroad especially to the US and prefer to send their children to study in the US as well. China's seeks to influence American public opinion by various means. Second only to Russia, China has the most well-funded and extensive set of activities meant to sway American views of China. To be sure, unlike the Russians, the Chinese do not meddle in elections nor attempt to polarize America by engineering fake news and many of their activities fall within normal diplomatic boundaries. Nevertheless, there are some shadowy Chinese engagements that could undermine the American democratic process. China's United Front Work Department works on influencing American institutions at every level of society. China like many countries hires lobbyists to advance its interests with American federal and state politicians. On university campuses, the Chinese state funded Confucius Institutes infuse the language curriculum with a political agenda while the Chinese students and scholars associations support Chinese government policy such as mobilizing Chinese students to protest visits by the Dalai Lama. At US think tanks, Chinese operators often attempt to influence the activities of researchers and scholars while restricting the activities of US think tanks and American scholars in China. On a personal level, Chinese-Americans who are critical of China or supportive of Taiwan are sometimes pressured into silence for fear that their relatives in China will suffer the consequences. While the list is alarming, we must put this finding in perspective. Less we treat every Chinese person in America as a spy, we have to remember that these activities are carried out by a minority of Chinese state funded agents and that the majority of Chinese-Americans are as patriotic as non Chinese-Americans. The China bashing climate generated by the current US administration and the increasingly chauvinistic and authoritarian attitude of the Chinese state are two dangerous political forces threatening to destroy the deep ties of friendship, cultural exchange, and collaboration that had existed for centuries between the two countries. In times like this, understanding how America is viewed through Chinese eyes helps to dispel misunderstanding and hostility. Thank you for watching.
