Minxin Pei

Opinion | As China ups its influence abroad, the West must count on the power of its democratic values to prevail

Minxin Pei says instead of reacting with suspicion to anything connected to China, Western countries should focus on the strength of their own democratic processes, such as transparency

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Carrie Feyerabend from the Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera at Binghamton University performs during the Amazing Chinese Opera show at the University at Buffalo in New York state, on November 16. China’s Confucius Institutes, centres teaching Chinese language and culture funded by a Chinese government-affiliated entity, have come under suspicion in the West. Photo: Xinhua

Minxin Pei

Published: 11:00am, 14 Dec 2018Updated: 6:51pm, 14 Dec 2018

Since the cold war ended, the West has invested huge amounts of resources in efforts to induce political liberalisation in China, including through programmes to promote the rule of law, civil society, transparency and government accountability. The results have been disappointing. Far from becoming more democratic, China has lately been backsliding towards hard-line authoritarianism. And now it is investing resources in efforts to do some inducing of its own in the world’s democracies.

China’s influence-peddling in the West has been the subject of media reports and think tank studies, and has elicited the concern of high-profile politicians, from US Vice-President Mike Pence to former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

China’s “influence operations”, they argue, include cultivating ties with Western politicians, establishing Confucius Institutes around the world to promote Chinese language and culture, expanding the global reach of China’s official propaganda networks, and donations to and exchange programmes with academic institutions.

How should Western liberal democracies confront a China that is taking a page from their own playbook, as it exploits their openness to advance its ideological and geopolitical objectives?

For starters, Western leaders and institutions should distinguish between state-sponsored activities and legitimate, mutually beneficial cultural, civic and educational exchanges among private citizens and entities.

To be sure, the Communist Party’s sophisticated United Front operation – which focuses on neutralising opposition to its policies and authority, inside and outside China – often relies on private citizens to achieve its objectives. Private actors also have informal incentives to curry favour with China’s rulers by behaving in party-friendly ways. As a result, even ostensibly independent or private activities can carry political and reputational risks for Western organisations, which may be accused of acting as “agents of influence” for China.