What does China want?

Today, China is indeed a world power in every sense of the word and it is unimaginable that up till now, the country is still being referred to as an emerging economic power. China seems not bothered about the appellation out of conviction that if she continues with her developmental efforts and gets more countries, especially those in the third world, to come along with her in terms of patronage; she too would continue to be a force to reckon with. Where else can the country get most of her allies than Africa where the economy survives on importation? Where else with China’s capacity to feed her huge population and send extra to needy nations like Nigeria?

China respects members of its intelligentsia a lot. So, when a university lecturer expresses opinion about policy of government, such would not be ignored by government because the society depends heavily on the expertise of teachers. A lecturer in the department of Mass Communication at the Tsinghua University, China, Professor Li. Xinguang explained that his country which is one of the permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) may not send troops to war ravaged Afghanistan in order not to put its own security in jeopardy, even as he said that his country would support African quest for a permanent seat in the Security Council of the United Nations.

Apparently reacting to the appeal by the President of the United States of America, Mr. Barack Obama to all countries of the world to stop the on-going carnage in Afghanistan where hundreds of soldiers and innocent people are dying, the professor said it would be dangerous for China to accede to that request without considering how it would affect its relationship with neighbours. Professor Xiguang made these remarks while delivering a lecture titled: “The Soft Power of Chinese Power” delivered at the on-going seminar for press officers and journalists from developing countries in Beijing, China.

Though he explained that his views did not represent those of the government of the Peoples Republic of China, as an academic in a first class university known as "Harvard of China", he has a responsibility to contribute positively to any discussion that would shape the foreign policy of China in relation to its neighbours. He said that sending troops to Afghanistan would be a wrong decision for the Chinese government because it would amount to fighting its own brothers and sisters.

According to him, “There are about three million Muslims in Afghanistan and over 30 million in China. Apart from these numbers, all our neighbours are Muslims. Will it make sense for China to send guns to Afghanistan? After all, we did not start the war. If China sends troops, the same people who are appealing to us to join the war they started would accuse us of human rights violations and abuse of freedom of religion.”
While tracing the history of China, which he said includes 3,000 years of Emperor Dynasty, Prof. Xinguang emphasised that China remains a communist state without apologies and its foreign policy of good neighbourliness, irrespective of religion and ethnic affiliation, cannot be compromised for any selfish agenda of a few countries.

He lamented a situation whereby three countries would take a decision and tell the rest of the world it was the international community that arrived at that decision, stressing that by the power of western media, a lot of manipulation and distortion had been done to China.
“Gentlemen, China may not send a soldier to Afghanistan because it has more to lose if it does so. America has three neighbours and it is not fighting these neighbours. Why should China be fighting with its own neighbours and brothers? All we want in our region is peace, not war.”
Talking about the development of nuclear capabilities by some countries, especially Iran and South Korea, the university don noted candidly that nuclear weapons cannot help any nation.

“The best way to stop the proliferation is for China, the USA, France, Britain, Russia and other super powers to destroy their nuclear weapons first. But to say that I should destroy mine while you are increasing yours would be unfair to humanity. I can tell you that America and China or other world powers cannot go to war with one another because we both have capabilities to deliver nuclear weapons. I think what the world should be emphasising in this modern age is peace and development and that must be done on the basis of equality and respect for individual nations.”
On the agitation of African nations for a permanent seat at the Security Council, Professor Xinguang went down memory lane describing how the continent supported China’s transformation agenda and concluded that China has always enjoyed good relations with African countries.

He further explained that China has also been reciprocating the warm relations by supporting African nations in every way possible. He said Chinese foreign aid to developing countries started from 1950 and it has provided assistance to more than 160 countries in African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and South Pacific regions.
The professor also explained that China would support Africa’s efforts at getting a permanent seat on the Security Council. He however advised African nations not to be distracted by who occupies the seat among them.

According to him, in addition to having common goals, China and other developing countries have a common destiny. He said, since 70 percent of the world’s land mass belongs to developing countries of the world, the countries should take advantage of this strength to free themselves.
He however noted that a virile media and vibrant journalists who are sufficiently trained are all the developing nations of the world require in this era of globalization to counter the propaganda war from the western media that take delight in over-reporting or slanting insignificant events about third world countries.

And, how to develop the right kind of media that can help developing nations fight and win the propaganda war that was the thrust of the seminar held at the Guizhou province, China where 94 journalists drawn from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe were gathered to brainstorm on the state of the media in developing countries.
Held inside the premises of the Guizhou Television, the seminar viewed the propaganda against developing nations with serious concern and concluded that the best way to stop the media offensive of the West is for the aggrieved nations to network in the area of collaboration to establish a global multimedia agency capable of matching the established stations of the West.
Participants noted that the media should always be used to tell the truth.

But instead of presenting facts to the people, western media take advantage of their sophisticated networks to blackmail the developing world. The only stories ‘good to report’ about Africa, Asia, Latin America and other developing countries, said the participants in their various contributions, are stories about famine, starvation and war.
They however admitted that there was no point blaming the West for deploying its tools to its advantage. Most of the participants submitted that the third world should wake up to its responsibility of building global networks in the mould of CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera and others.

If there is a vibrant media that could showcase the economic potentials of the developing nations and the people know the truth, said the participants, nobody would be disturbed by what is broadcast by the powerful media elsewhere.
Earlier, at the opening ceremony, the President of Guizhou Television, Mr. Pai Fang in his welcome address, disclosed that China, particularly his station was already establishing a global network to deliver China to the world in a way that would counter the media offensive against it in an efficient manner. He said that the television station, which was established in 1969, already has one satellite channel, 10 channels and a newspaper, noting that very soon, another channel would be added to the existing ones to send the right signals to all parts of the world.

“What is important is for us to broadcast good programmes. If you broadcast good programmes to the people, they will follow you. If you present irritating ones, you lose audience. Here in Guizhou television, we present facts to our people notwithstanding the fact that we are being financed by the government. There is collaboration among all other provincial stations as we exchange ideas on how best to serve our audience. Media should be used as a medium to tell the truth without hiding anything. If people know the facts, they would not be unnecessarily agitated.”

With a flurry of visits by top Chinese government officials to many African countries including Nigeria; the opening up of its doors for exchange programmes and the need to collaborate on how to develop African tourism potentials, it is obvious that China is desirous of maintaining its relationship with the developing world in its determination to claim a befitting status in the comity of developed nations.
Education and communication appear to be the channel through which China wishes to convince Africa that there is the need to identify common problems and adopt same approach to solve them. This seems to be the most important thing that China wants from Africa.

Copyright:
ThisDay