What affects China's national image? A cross-national study of public opinion

Journal of Contemporary China

Volumn 22, Issue 83, 2013, Pages 850-867

  Xie, Tao ^a   Page, Benjamin I ^b  

^a BEIJING FOREIGN STUDIES UNIVERSITY   (China)

^b NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING WORLD; ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; INVESTMENT; POLITICAL SYSTEM; SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT; STRATEGIC APPROACH;

CHINA;

EID: 84883336591     PISSN: 10670564     EISSN: 14699400     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2013.782130     Document Type: Article

References (69)

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4. For detailed accounts of Chinese leaders' thoughts on and attention to China's national image, see Guan Wenhu, 'Xin zhongguo lingdaoren dui guojia xingxiang wenti de renshi' ['Thoughts of Chinese leaders on national image since 1949'], Gaoxiao lilun zhanxian [Theoretical Front of Higher Education] 4, (2009), pp. 49-53.
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7. A search conducted on 13 December 2012, using 'national image' as title words and selecting 'strict match' and 'core academic journals', produced 288 articles via China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), an online database of Chinese popular and academic journals whose coverage goes back to 1949. A similar search using 'international image' as title words produced 29 journal articles. The first article that features national image in its title was published in 1996. The first article with international image in the title was published in 2000. These search results clearly show that China's image did not become a topic of interest to Chinese scholars until the mid-1990s.
8. These are usually single-case or small-N studies that use content analysis to examine foreign media's coverage of China. For representative works, see Yang Xueyan and Zhang Juan, 'Jiushi niandai meiguo dabao shangde zhongguo xingxiang' ['China's image as created by major American newspapers in the 1990s'], Waijiao xueyuan xuebao [Journal of Foreign Affairs College] 1, (2003), pp. 41-48
9. Sun Youzhong, Jiema Zhongguo Xingxiang: Niuyue Shibao He Taiwu Shibao Zhongguo Baodao Bijiao Yanjiu 1993-2002 [Decoding China's Image: A Comparison of China Coverage by The New York Times and The Times, 1993-2002] (Beijing: World Knowledge Press, 2009).
10. See, for example, Shaohua Liu and Jieqiong Tang, 'Zhongguo guojia xingxiang: wenti yu sikao' ['China's national image: problems and reflections'], Hunan shifan daxue shehui kexue xuebao [Journal of Social Science of Hunan Normal University] 4, (2010), pp. 39-43.
11. For many Chinese scholars and government officials, national image lies at the heart of soft power, and public diplomacy is the means to build up one's image and soft power. Viewed in this way, the three concepts are inseparable. Representative works include Yiwei Wang, 'Public diplomacy and the rise of Chinese soft power', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 616, (2008), pp. 257-273.
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38. These dimensions were distinguished by researchers analyzing a soft power survey conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA). See Christopher B. Whitney and David Shambaugh, Soft Power in Asia: Results of a 2008 Multinational Survey of Public Opinion (Chicago Council on Global Affairs), available at: www. thechicagocouncil.org (accessed 16 March 2011). The CCGA data are also analyzed, in depth, in Lee and Melissen, eds, Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in Asia.
39. On US media coverage of China, see 'Covering China', a special issue of the Media Studies Journal, (Winter 1999).
40. Xiguang Li et al., Yaomo Hua Zhongguo De Beihou [Behind Demonizing China] (Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1996).
41. For a detailed account of China's propaganda (or publicity) system, see David Shambaugh, 'China's propaganda system: institutions, processes and efficacy', China Journal 57, (2007), pp. 25-58.
42. For white papers published by SCIO, see http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/.
43. David Shambaugh, 'China flexes its soft power', New York Times, (7 June 2010), available at: http://www. nytimes.com/2010/06/08/opinion/08iht-edshambaugh.html (accessed 20 March 2011).
44. These statistics come from the official website of Hanban, the government agency in charge of funding and operating Confucius institutes and classrooms. See http://www.hanban.edu.cn/confuciousinstitutes/node_10961.htm (accessed 13 December 2012). Obviously, Hanban has not updated these statistics in the past two years.
45. '284.7 thousand Chinese students went to study abroad last year, an increase of 55.4 thousand over last year', Xinhua News Agency, (15 March 2011), available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2011-03/15/c_121190164.htm (accessed 15 April 2011).
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49. For background on China-Pakistan strategic ties, see Lisa Curtis, 'China's military and security relationship with Pakistan', Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 20 May 2009, available at: http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/chinas-military-and-security-relationship-with-pakistan (accessed 20 March 2011)
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51. Information on top Chinese leaders' visits can be found on the website of the Chinese embassy to Islamabad, http://pk.chineseembassy.org/eng/zbgx/ (accessed 20 March 2011).
52. 'China pledges $250m flood aid to Pakistan', China Daily, (18 December 2010), available at: http://www. chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010wenindia/2010-12/18/content_11721909.htm (accessed 20 March 2011).
53. For an in-depth look at US-China trade and its impact on Americans, see Benjamin I. Page and Tao Xie, Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), ch. 2.
54. One might point to China's relationship with North Korea as a case where very few official visits (or at least publicly announced ones) are exchanged, though the two countries are widely believed to be strong allies. Nevertheless, generally speaking, more visits should be associated with strong strategic ties. Arguably, a better measure of a country's strategic ties with China would be the number of visits to China as a proportion of total foreign visits made by that country's top leaders, but collecting such data is beyond the scope of the present study.
55. For an excellent review of US-China military contacts, see Shirley A. Kan, 'US-China military contacts: issues for Congress', Congressional Research Service Report, (14 December 2010), available at: http://www.fas.org/ sgp/crs/natsec/RL32496.pdf (accessed 22 March 2011).
56. For China's most recent use of military exchanges as retaliatory measures against the US, see Kathrin Hille and Daniel Dombey, 'China postpones military exchanges with US', Financial Times, (25 February 2010), available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3590c6de-21c9-11df-acf4-00144feab49a.html#axzz1HHnqlzoW (accessed 22 March 2011).
57. See The Freedom House website, available at: www.freedomhouse.org (accessed 22 March 2011).
58. For discussions of the methodological problems associated with indicators of governance in general and political freedom in particular, see Julius Court, Goran Hyden and Ken Mease, 'Assessing governance: methodological challenges', World Governance Survey Discussion Paper 2 (United Nations University, August 2002), available at: http://www. odi.org.uk/resources/download/3137.pdf (accessed 20 April 2011)
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66. This is true of single-equation methods like those employed here. In principle, simultaneous equation techniques could be used to sort out the two directions of causal impact, but we have been unable so far to come up with a plausible specification for such equations. Truly exogenous variables with the required theoretical properties are hard to find.
67. The most recent case involves two Chinese telecommunications giants, Huawei and ZTE, which were blocked by Congress from US contracts and acquisitions. Michael S. Schmidt, Keith Bradsher and Christine Hauser, 'US panel cites risks in Chinese equipment', New York Times, (8 October 2012), available at: http://www.nytimes.com/ 2012/10/09/us/us-panel-calls-huawei-and-zte-national-security-threat.html?pagewanted = all&_r = 0 (accessed 13 December 2012).
68. According to the white paper, by the end of 2009 China has provided nearly US$40 billion aid to 161 countries and more than 30 international and regional organizations. Information Office of the State Council, China's Foreign Aid, (April 2011), available at: http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/ndhf/2011/201104/t896982.htm (accessed 13 December 2012).
69. For data collection methodology and the limitations of their data, see the website of AidData, available at: http://www.aiddata.org/research/china (accessed 23 March 2011).