Nobody has missed the fierce protests surrounding the Olympic torch in London, Paris, and San Francisco. Internationally, there has been gathering momentum against the upcoming Beijing summer Olympic games. So far we have mainly seen protests focused on China’s occupation of Tibet. I would have expected more uproar from Falungong, Korean Christians, and disgruntled workers. There might be more protests coming on a wider range of Chinese controversies.
Since I’m based in mainland China, I have been answering some questions from colleagues outside the country. From their line of questioning I fear that a huge misunderstanding is emerging. They suggest that the Chinese government may face similar protests and other negative fallout from its own citizens. In fact, the opposite is true.
A huge section of the Chinese population still depend on heavily censored traditional media. Those outlets have largely ignored the international protests and focus on the more positive news. For instance, the lead story in today’s Shanghai Daily concerns a plot to kidnap Olympic athletes, foiled by China’s security forces. Readers of that paper probably even know about the Olympic protests.
More than 220 million Chinese are now online and they have had — at least in theory — the opportunity to read foreign news. The reaction among Chinese net users here has been fierce, but strongly nationalistic. An overwhelming majority have come out in support of the Chinese government.
One of the leading online voices on China, EastSouthWestNorth, recently put it like this:
“For the Chinese communists, the responses from Western governments, media and citizens are immaterial. If German Chancellor Merkel won’t attend the Olympic opening ceremony, it only means tickets for some others who want to come. It won’t impact their existence. The paramount goal of the Chinese communists is to retain control of China, and therefore it is the response from the Chinese citizens that matter. Thanks to the protests, the Chinese communists may have consolidated support by its citizens for years to come.”
