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China’s well-organized campaign

The Chinese video addressed “all you bashers” who criticized China’s crackdown on Tibetan protesters and their sympathizers, asserting “Tibet WAS, IS and ALWAYS WILL BE a part of China.” The producers said that the disturbances in Tibet were not riots but outbursts of terror.

There followed scene after scene with belligerent commentary laced with sarcasm and personal attacks, peppered with a sprinkling of foul words not fit for a family newspaper, including liberal use of the “F” word.

The Chinese government, while often objecting to critical reports as being “interference in the internal affairs of China,” rarely hesitates to hurl invective at other nations.

In this case, the Chinese have outdone themselves, especially in blasting foreign media coverage of dissent in Tibet and demonstrations along the Olympic torch relay making its way to Beijing.

The angry campaign seems well coordinated. The official Beijing Olympic Web site overlooks most of the protests. The Xinhua news agency and the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper, are defensive but calm while reporting events.

It is in the Internet blogs that the heat really gets turned up. In particular, one called “anti-CNN.com” claims that it was set up by “volunteers” not connected with the government “to expose the lies and distortions in the Western media.” Whoever runs the blog contends: “We are not against the Western people, but against the prejudice from the Western society.”

None of the Chinese outlets explains how they, or ordinary Chinese, know about what is broadcast or said by the foreign TV and press when relatively few Chinese see foreign media reports. It suggests that Chinese embassies abroad are vacuuming up everything negative that is reported about China as their rebuttals are aimed at reports in English, German, French and Spanish.

CNN is China’s No. 1 target, highlighted by the blog named “anti-CNN.” The network has been labeled “a famous liar with most advanced technology,” “Chinese Negative News” or the “Cheating News Network.”

In particular, Chinese lawyers and government officials pointed to opinions expressed by a CNN commentator, Jack Cafferty, who said in a broadcast: “I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”

China does not have a constitutional First Amendment that permits such judgments to be aired.

Fourteen lawyers filed suit in a Beijing court against CNN this week, asserting they had suffered mental distress. The Chinese government has demanded a “sincere apology.”

Entries on blogs have urged the government to throw CNN correspondents out of the country and to ban network broadcasts inside China, where it has only limited access to the foreign community.

CNN is not alone. Fox News is named for “a cunning animal.” Agence France-Presse, the large wire service based in Paris, “lies.” The BBC and a German newspaper are described in offensive terms that ought not to be repeated here.

As might be expected, the Dalai Lama is often attacked personally. But others are also objects of ire, including the US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has sponsored resolutions critical of China, and US Assistant Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, the State Department’s coordinator of Tibetan affairs, who was termed “ignorant” and a teller of “a bare-faced lies.”

It will be interesting to see how Beijing deals with the foreign media as the Olympics approach. The Beijing Olympic committee says it expects 21,600 accredited journalists, of whom 16,000 will be broadcasters. Another 10,000 non-accredited journalists are also expected.

The president of the Beijing organizing committee, Liu Qi (劉淇), said in the preface of a 264-page media guide: “The freedom of foreign journalists in their news coverage will also be ensured.”

Since journalists can be a rambunctious lot and CCP is, if nothing else, obsessed with control, this could make for an explosive mix.

There were hints this week that some Chinese were beginning to worry that their rants might have gone too far. The People’s Daily called on Chinese to act like gentlemen with “a graceful bearing and an open mind.”

Said a Chinese in a blog posting: “Instead of reasonably and calmly discussing the position and why it may not be correct, I have seen many Chinese people resort to childish name-calling and angry rhetoric.”

“These rude Chinese,” the blog writer concluded, “are making China look bad.”



Richard Halloran is a writer base in Hawaii.
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