20101022 Putting the ‘PR’ in PRC

Putting the ‘PR’ in PRC

The People’s Republic of China (PRC), and especially the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who run it, keep shooting themselves in the foot at every turn of history. Despite the enormous growth China has seen since the end of the Cultural Revolution and the money that the country has poured into modernizing its image, especially leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and this year’s Shanghai Expo, party officials don’t seem to have the slightest grasp of the tenets of public relations (PR). They constantly make fools of themselves, misjudge other countries and empower their enemies by opening their mouths when they should just keep them shut.

The most recent example of China’s inept understanding of PR came when Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Liu is serving an 11-year sentence for writing a petition calling on the government to enact democratic reforms. Jailing Liu in the first place was a knee-jerk reaction by the CCP that showed how paranoid it is about its tenuous grip on power in a rapidly changing world. With this type of paranoia taking hold, it’s understandable that CCP officials would be wary of internationalizing Liu’s case. However, their vociferous reaction to the award only served to broadcast Liu’s message worldwide.

For example, shortly after the award was given, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying (傅瑩) called Liu a “strange” person, and asked why Beijing’s “heroes” never receive awards in the West.

Comments like these demonstrate to Westerners the gulf of perception between a Chinese leadership that thinks there’s something wrong with a person for demanding freedom and fighting the state security apparatus, and the West, which has a high regard for the fight for human rights.

Moreover, before the award was even announced, Chinese authorities had threatened Norway, saying bilateral relations would be hurt, despite the independence of the panels awarding the Nobel prizes. This more than anything probably drove the judges on the panel to award the prize to Liu. If Chinese authorities had kept their mouths shut, who knows how things would have gone?

Another example of China doing itself more harm than good is when it demanded that last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival not show The 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary by Jeff Daniels about Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, a woman that Beijing has branded a terrorist. The festival vowed to show the film anyway, and Chinese filmmakers were “encouraged” by PRC authorities not to take part in the film festival, thus hurting the image of their own independence. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said China was “firmly opposed to any foreign country providing her [Kadeer] with a stage for her anti-China separatist activities.”

The film was screened, with Australian officials and the Dalai Lama praising it. The documentary would probably not have made waves if it hadn’t been for Chinese authorities wading in with their big mouths baying. After that, interest in the film skyrocketed, much to Beijing’s chagrin.

And what about the Dalai Lama himself? The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader enjoys widespread support throughout the West, but would this be the case if Beijing did not constantly declare him a separatist fanatic intent on the destruction of China? If Chinese leaders were to just keep quiet when the Dalai Lama traveled, his own public relations people would have more trouble getting his name into newspapers.

Chinese authorities simply don’t realize that all news is good news in the PR business.