Public diplomacy games: a comparative study of American and Japanese responses to the interplay of nationalism, ideology and Chinese soft power strategies around the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Abstract

The Olympic Games are global communication events that offer host-nations the unique opportunity to promote a soft power agenda by allowing them to construct global messages about their cultural identities and work towards public diplomacy goals that may be more difficult to achieve under normal circumstances. At the same time, however, the Olympics accentuate nationalist and patriotic sentiment, especially in host-nations. Nationalist conviction must be conceptually differentiated from support for the national government. Indeed, we suggest that one of the tasks of governments of Olympic host cities is to manage strong nationalist emotions in order that they support the public diplomacy efforts associated with the Olympic Games. In this paper, American and Japanese media responses to the interplay of China's 2008 Olympics public diplomacy efforts and Chinese nationalism are comparatively analyzed for each of three periods: 1) the international torch relay; 2) the 2008 Sichuan earthquake; 3) the Olympic Games. Our findings suggest that in the West, the Chinese nationalism that was prompted by a controversial torch relay overpowered other aspects of the Games and that thus the Olympic Games ultimately gave new power to familiar discourses emphasizing a fear of China. In Japan, on the other hand, the Olympics presented modest, albeit important, new opportunities to test and promote positive portrayals of Sino-Japanese relations

Notes

¹ Nielson Wire, ‘Beijing Olympics Draw Largest Ever Global TV Audience’. September 5, 2008. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/beijing-olympics-draw-largest-ever-global-tv-audience; Wurtzel, ‘NBC's Billion-Dollar Research’.

² Cull, ‘The Public Diplomacy’, 126.

³ ‘BBC World Service Poll: Views of China and Russia Decline in Global Poll’. BBC World Service, February 6, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/06_02_09bbcworldservicepoll.pdf.

⁴ ‘BBC World Service Poll: Views of China and Russia Decline in Global Poll’. BBC World Service, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/06_02_09bbcworldservicepoll.pdf; Kurlantzick, Charm Offensive.

⁵ Nye, Soft Power, 11.

⁶ Dayan and Katz, Media Events.

⁷ MacAloon, ‘Olympic Games’.

⁸ deLisle, ‘One World’, 31.

⁹ Anderson, ‘Western Nationalism’. Also see for example: Alison, ‘Sport and Nationalism’; Bairner, ‘Sport and the Nation’; Miller et al. , Globalization and Sport.

¹⁰ Kevin Eason, ‘American Refuses to Accept Defeat in the Medal Count’. Times Online, August 25, 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4599875.ece.

¹¹ Anderson, Imagined Communities; Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism.

¹² Ang, Living Room Wars, 146.

¹³ Human Rights Watch, for example, released a Reporters Guide for activist-reporters who planned to travel to Beijing in 2008. The guide is available online: ‘Human Rights Watch Reporter's Guide to Covering the Beijing Olympics’. http://china.hrw.org/files/HRW_Beijing_Olympics_Reporters_Guide.pdf.

¹⁴ Students for a Free Tibet, ‘Tibetan-Canadian Observer Detained in Beijing Hours before Olympics Countdown Celebration’. August 3, 2007. http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id = 1103.

¹⁵ Price, ‘On Seizing the Olympic Platform’.

¹⁶ Smith, ‘2008 Summer Games’; Girginov, ‘Creative Tensions’.

¹⁷ Wasserstrom, ‘Dreams and Nightmares’.

¹⁸ Henry and Al-Tauqi, ‘The Development’, 356.

¹⁹ Black and Van Der Westhuizen, ‘The Allure’.

²⁰ Quoted in Finlay, ‘Toward the Future’, 383.

²¹ deLisle, ‘One World’; Girginov, ‘Creative Tensions’, 899; Ren, ‘Embracing Wushu’.

²² Wang, ‘Public Diplomacy’, 265.

²³ Economy and Segal, ‘China's Olympic Nightmare’.

²⁴ Quoted in ‘IOC “Surprised” by Tibet Unrest’. Tibet News Digest, December 31, 2008. http://www.tibetinfonet.net/content/news/10906.

²⁵ Close, Askew and Xu, The Beijing Olympiad; K. Bennhold and E. Rosenthal, ‘As Olympic Torch Visits Paris, Protests and Scuffles Follow’, The New York Times, April 8, 2008, A6.

²⁶ Bennhold and Rosenthal, ‘As Olympic Torch Visits Paris’, A6.

²⁷ Rothstein, ‘The Relay of Fire Ignited by the Nazis’, E1.

²⁸ Mostrous, ‘CNN Apologises to China over “Thugs and Goons” Comment by Jack Cafferty’.

²⁹ ‘Torchbearer Exhibits Courage in Paris’. Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, April 8, 2008. http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/journey/paris/news/n214297268.shtml.

³⁰ Xinhua News Agency, ‘Dalai Coterie's Conspiracy Aimed at Sabotaging Olympics, Seeks Tibet Independence’.

³¹ ‘Beijing's Bad Faith Olympics’, The New York Times, August 23, 2008, A8.

³² Dewan, ‘Chinese Students in the U.S. Fight “Biased” View of Home’, A1.

³³ Economy and Segal, ‘China's Olympic Nightmare’; see also Jacobs and Wong, ‘As the Search for Survivors Scales Back, an Air of Hopelessness Descends’, A10.

³⁴ Zinser, ‘I.O.C. Bars International Torch Relays’.

³⁵ BBC World Service, ‘BBC World Service Poll’.

³⁶ Jacobs and Wong, ‘As the Search for Survivors Scales Back’, A10.

³⁷ Araton, ‘Stepping off Soapbox as China Mourns’, D1.

³⁸ Jolly, ‘Dior Drops Actress From Ads After China Remarks’, C8.

³⁹ French, ‘U.N. Leader Praises China's Response to Quake’, A8; Jacobs, ‘A Rescue in China, Uncensored’.

⁴⁰ The Darfur Olympics webcast is available online: ‘The Darfur Olympics: August 8–15th, 2008’. http://www.darfurolympics.net/dayone.php.

⁴¹ Yardley, ‘China's Leaders Try to Impress and Reassure World’.

⁴² Tang, ‘Eyes Pulled Back, the Chinese Look Intimidating’.

⁴³ Bianco, ‘Review: Opening Ceremony Rewrote the Record Books’.

⁴⁴ Brooks, ‘Harmony and the Dream’, A21.

⁴⁵ Eifling, ‘China's Potemkin Olympics’, quoted in Yardley, ‘In Grand Olympic Show, Some Sleight of Voice’, A1.

⁴⁶ Montez De Oca, ‘As Our Muscles Get Softer’, 149; Miller, Sportsex, 30; Araton, ‘Earthquake Shifts Tone of Games’.

⁴⁷ Humphreys and Finlay, ‘New Technologies’.

⁴⁸ New York Times, ‘Beijing's Bad Faith Olympics’, A8; Eifling, ‘China's Potemkin Olympics’.

⁴⁹ Araton, ‘Athletes Only as Old as China Says They Are’. The IOC later investigated the scandal. The investigation was not able to substantiate claims about the underage gymnasts.

⁵⁰ Reported by the BBC Chinese Service, ‘Opinion Polls show Big Disagreement in what Japanese and Chinese Publics think about Each Other’ (in Chinese), September 9, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7600000/newsid_7607000/7607020.stm.

⁵¹ ‘Chinese Riot after Japan Victory’, BBC World Service, August 7, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3541380.stm

⁵² Feng, ‘The Causes and Symptoms of Sino-Japan Historical Problems’ (in Chinese), May 12, 2005. http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/ 40536/3383248.html; Roy, ‘The Sources’, 195.

⁵³ BBC World Service, ‘China Protests at Japanese Shrine Visit’, April 23, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1946389.stm.

⁵⁴ McNeill, ‘Media Intimidation in Japan’.

⁵⁵ Roy, ‘The Sources’, 198; Penney, ‘China Comparisons’; Zhou, Cheering up for China, 199.

⁵⁶ Ueno and Hirokawa, ‘China Pesticide-Tainted Dumplings Poison 175 Japanese’, February 1, 2008. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid = 20601087&sid = aymCD4ZxVaLE&refer = home.

⁵⁷ Feng, ‘The Causes and Symptoms of Sino-Japan Historical Problems’; Curtin, ‘Sea of Confrontation: Japan-China Territorial and Gas Dispute Intensifies’, October 26, 2005. http://www.nautilus.org/aesnet/2005/OCT2605/JF_ChinaSea.pdf; Lin, ‘An Analysis’; Penney, ‘China Comparisons’; K. Yoshikazu, ‘Do We Still Need Diplomacy?’ (in Chinese), February 13, 2009. http://www.ftchinese.com/story.php?storyid = 001024654; ‘China's Olympic Hopefuls Go for Gold’, BBC World Service, August 5, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6918060.stm.

⁵⁸ Song, A Study on Olympics; Zhou, Cheering up for China; Curtin, Sea of Confrontation; Lin, ‘An Analysis’; Penney, ‘China Comparisons’.

⁵⁹ Penny, ‘China Comparisons’, 15.

⁶⁰ Qiu, ‘Why is Hu's Visit to Japan Highly Sensitive’ (in Chinese), April 22, 2008. http://blog.ifeng.com/article/1408452.html.

⁶¹ Song, A Study on Olympics, 101–3.

⁶² ‘Each Torchbearer will be Encircled by Five Riot Police Force Members in Japan’ (in Chinese), Global News (or Huanqiu Online), April 24, 2008. http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2008-04/97714.html.

⁶³ ‘Japanese Rightists Beat Chinese Students in Japan During the Torch Relay’ (in Chinese), Global Times (or Huanqiu Online), April 26, 2008. http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2008-04/98799_5.html; Zhang, ‘Chinese Student's Analysis of Japanese Media's coverage of the Japanese Leg of Torch Relay’ (in Chinese), May 8, 2008. http://www.zaobao.com/special/forum/pages6/forum_jp080508.shtml.

⁶⁴ Associated Press, ‘Report: Japan Won't Use Military to Deliver Aid: Amid Unease in China, Former Enemy Ditches its Plan for Quake Relief’, May 29, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24871606//; Pei, ‘Were the “Rumours” about Japan's Plans to Use Military Force to Deliver Aid to China True?’; Beijing Daily, ‘This is a Better Sino-Japan Diplomacy’ (in Chinese), May 22, 2008. http://www.beijingdaily.com.cn/sdbd/200805/t20080522_460526.htm; Kyodo Chinese Service, ‘Olympics Stories Hub’ (in Chinese), 2008. http://china.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fsStory. The Kyodo Chinese News Service featured a series of Olympic Stories during the Games on a central website: http://china.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fsStory.

⁶⁵ This Chinese communication scholar preferred to stay anonymous for this essay.

⁶⁶ Song, A Study on Olympics, 170–1; People's Daily (Overseas Edition), ‘The 30th Anniversary of the Signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship’ (in Chinese), August 5, 2008. http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-08/05/content_8956889.htm.

⁶⁷ Xinhua Daily Telegraph, ‘One Ai Fukyhara is Not Enough’ (in Chinese), April 9, 2006. http://news.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2006-04/09/content_4401858.htm; Min, ‘“Ceramic Doll” was Carried to Bus’, A20; Zhao, ‘Playing with Zhang Yining: “I only tried what I could”’, A22.

⁶⁸ Zhou, ‘Foreign Coaches Drive China's Success’; Zhang, ‘The Godmother of Synchronised Swimming Masayo Imura: “Martial Arts are Very Cool”’, A25; Heller, ‘An Expat Coach's Olympic Game Plan’, August 1, 2008. http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/08/01/qbastian/.

⁶⁹ Geng, ‘Japanese Understood China's Olympic Complex Most’, 14.

⁷⁰ ‘The Whole World is Enjoying this Moment’ (in Chinese), Global Times, August 9, 2008, 1–2.

⁷¹ ‘Asian are Pride of Olympics Medals’ (in Chinese), Global Times (or Huanqiu Online), August 13, 2008, 7.

⁷² ‘Japan and South Korea are Celebrating 8/15’ (in Chinese), Global Times, August 15, 2008, 3.