I’ve been looking for signs about how the world will respond to China post-coronavirus (if there ever is a post.) Will countries turn against Beijing and its One Belt, One Road initiative and its overall attempt to impose its will on others? This Reuters story from Bangkok is a very interesting sign. It’s not specifically about the belt and road initiative (BRI.) It’s more about the Chinese trying to export their values of control over Hong Kong and Taiwan. A Thai actor popular in China said something online about supporting Hong Kong and Taiwan. Chinese viewers attacked him online. Then the Thais went bonkers about China’s heavy hand and their authoritarian government’s close connections with Beijing.
If this starts to happen in more countries, China will have lost huge momentum on the world stage. One other tidbit: German officials reported that Chinese diplomats in Germany were trying to get them to make positive statements about China’s support for Germany’s efforts against the virus. The Chinese diplomats are clearly trying to create a narrative that China is a hero in all this, not the villain. The Germans declined to make any such statements and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing denied the report.
But clearly there is a global struggle over perceptions of China and I suspect it will intensify. The Chinese government has spent billions to build up Xinhua, the China Times, CGTN television network and other arms of “soft influence.” It’s going to be a fascinating, high-stakes battle.
