China’s global image in the 21st century: New connectivity provides opportunities (Article in China Daily)

This is an article I wrote for China Daily as input to the 18th National Congress. It's about a connected world and transformative transparency. The article is available on China Daily's webpage here. Below is first the full article, and after that the version that was published.

The long/full version of the article China’s global image in the 21st century: New connectivity provides opportunities

During 2012, the year of the Dragon, China has already been featured on more global media covers than any other year according to the project chinas-global-media-image.net.  While China is now constantly discussed around the world, the image of China in global media is still dominated by China as aggressive and not open for dialogue.

With a new leadership after the 18th National Congress there is an opportunity to establish China as a dialogue partner with the help of approaches suitable for a network society.

During the next decade China’s image will not primarily be shaped by traditional media. The images of tomorrow will be shaped in a connected world where billions of people contribute. These connected people will not only be passive consumers of information, many of them will be active in shaping China’s image through different social media. In a connected world people will trust their friends more than traditional media, and the networks with most trust will decide the future image of China.

In order to influence the image China must focus on its “digital twin”. The digital twin of China is the result of what people upload and comment regarding China. Images, stories, comments, blogs, videos that people can comments and rate will shape the image of China in the 21st century much more than news articles, TV programs and radio.

The emerging connected society is not a better or worse society compared with the one we are now leaving behind, it is different. The connectivity will help improve transparency, reduce corruption, support innovation and allow people to discuss important issues, but it will also result in increased number of rumors, false information, encourage shallow gossip and anonymous bulling.

Today the global media, both traditional and new social media, is still dominated by old ideas and stereotypes about China. A noteworthy example of the old ideas dominating western media is that one of the most common images representing China is a fire breathing western dragon.

Most people outside China do not even know the difference between a western dragon and Chinese Lóng and use western dragons to represent China. As Chinese students and professional now work around the world and an increasing number of people have experience from working and studying in China there is no reason for people online to not be connected with someone with knowledge about China. Such a person can help them understand China better, including the different between an auspicious Lóng and an aggressive (western) dragon.

As China now grows stronger and more important in many areas it is important for the new leadership to demonstrate that this is for the benefit also for the world. In a connected world it is no longer enough to do good things and tell people about it, it is also necessary to engage in discussions with people around the world. If China grow stronger without active work to engage in the kind of dialogue that a connected society require, we will most certainly see a situation where China is perceived as aggressive and arrogant, not just by foreigner but also by those in China who are connected.

It is important to acknowledge that China’s re-emergence as a strong global voice will result in tensions and that there will be areas where significant differences will surface. But it is even more important to acknowledge that the major global challenges will not be able to solve without the active participation of China.

Challenges that require China’s active participation range from climate change and water shortage to antibiotic resistance and increased income differences. The fact that China is a necessary part of the solution to all major global challenges is not well known.

The preferred situation would be if the world’s dominating countries and media today would take time to learn about China and support a constructive dialogue. Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen as many of the rich countries today are in decline and therefore reactive and afraid of new ideas.

In order to demonstrate its commitment to a peaceful global development it is important that China – and those with an understanding of China – to explore ways to use the outcome from the 18th national congress as an opportunity to explore new ways to encourage dialogue. Three areas could be explored:

1. Global platform for actions for a better world China could support the establishment of a global platform where actions to help solve the global challenges in different countries are listed, rated and commented in order to establish best practice that can inspire a race to the top. Users will be able to select criteria for finding best practice in order to ensure that the platform is user driven.

In order to ensure credibility China could launch this platform together with UN organizations, leading NGOs and academics as well as a group of countries that include OECD countries, emerging countries and least developed countries.

Leading bloggers and profile in social media with high credibility in networks around the world should then be invited to provide input and suggestions regarding areas that need to be discussed. The platform could also be used as a database so that people can find example of solutions in different countries.

This kind of transparency and possibility to engage with different stakeholders would be a way to demonstrate the concrete work that China is doing as well as an opportunity to increase dialogue. Such a platform would allow China’s leading work in areas such a low-carbon development to become visible, at the same time as people have the opportunity to discuss different initiatives.

2. Global collaboration teams Many global challenges have reasonably simple solutions but countries are blaming each other rather than engaging in constructive dialogue. China could establish collaboration teams with participation from many different countries to help address global challenges from a global perspective. Today most initiatives are based on national or multilateral initiatives, something that is not optimal for global challenges.

Global teams would be able to discuss positive and negative aspects of different countries. Instead of polarizing countries they could focus on collaboration.

3. Concepts for the 21st century The challenges humanity faces in the 21st century will require concepts others than those that western countries have used to create the current international system. Few countries are home to such a treasure of concepts that can help humanity navigate complex challenges as China.

As part of a long-term discussion about values and concepts needed to guide the global development China could support an initiative to develop educational material for global citizens. Such an educational material could present different concepts from around the world and how they can help address global challenges. The first global classes with participations from all corners of the world could be part of such an initiative.

The three suggestions above are only three examples and much more can be done do establish China as a dialogue partner. We are rapidly moving into a hyper connected society where transparency and enormous amounts of information will create new opportunities as well as challenges. China has the opportunity to approach this change as an opportunity

The 18th National Congress provide us with an opportunity to take a step forward and already now we could also establish a process to evaluating the results in conjunction with the 19th National Congress in 2017.

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The shorter version in China Daily

A connected world provides opportunities to engage in dialogue to alter outdated and prejudiced views of the country.

While China is now constantly discussed around the world, it is still portrayed in the global media as aggressive and not open to dialogue.

But if the world's media took the time to learn about China and support a constructive dialogue it would see that this is not the case. Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen as many of the rich countries today are in decline and adopting a retrograde mentality. Because of this, old ideas and stereotypes about China still dominate the global media, both traditional and new social media.

However, in the coming years China's image will be increasingly shaped in a connected world, a world in which people will not only be passive consumers of information, many of them will be active providers of information through different social media. In a connected world people will trust their social networks more than traditional media, and the social networks with the most trust will create a virtual image of China.

This digital image of China will be determined by the images, stories, comments, blogs and videos posted online, rather than through the print media, television and radio. So China must pay attention to its "digital twin". In a connected world it is no longer enough to do good things and tell people about them, it is also necessary to engage in dialogue with people around the world. If China does not engage in these dialogues, its digital twin will end up distorted.

We are rapidly moving into a hyper-connected society where transparency and enormous amounts of information are creating new opportunities and new challenges. In order to overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities it is important that China, and those with an understanding of China, explore new ways to encourage dialogue so that its digital twin is not shaped to suit others' agendas.

It is important to acknowledge that China's re-emergence as a strong global voice will result in tensions and that there will be areas where significant differences will surface. But it is also important to acknowledge that the major global challenges will not be solved without the active participation of China. These challenges range from climate change and water scarcity to the growing resistance to antibiotics and poverty.

To increase dialogue and transparency, China could support the establishment of a global platform where actions to help solve the global challenges in different countries can be put forward. In order to ensure that the platform is user driven and that it selects the criteria necessary to find the best practices, it should involve governments, United Nations organizations, non-governmental organizations and academics. Moreover, leading bloggers with high credibility should also be invited to provide input and suggestions regarding the areas to be discussed.

The platform could also be used as a database so that people can find examples of effective solutions applied in different countries. As well as an opportunity to increase dialogue, the possibility to engage with different stakeholders would be a way to increase transparency and demonstrate the concrete work that China is doing.

The challenges humanity faces in the 21st century will require concepts other than those already used by Western countries in creating the current international system. Few countries are such a treasure house of concepts that can help humanity navigate the complex challenges as China.

Many global challenges have reasonably simple solutions, but rather than engage in constructive dialogue, countries choose to blame each other for being the cause of the problem. Today most initiatives are based on national or multilateral grounds, something that is not optimal for achieving practical solutions to global challenges. China could establish collaboration teams with the participation of many different countries to help address the world's challenges from a global perspective. Focusing on practical collaboration rather than polarization, would enable progress to be made on many issues.

As part of a long-term discussion about the values and concepts needed to guide global development, China could support an initiative to develop educational material for global citizens. Such educational material could present different concepts from around the world and explain how they can be used to help address global challenges. The first global classes with participation from all corners of the world could be part of such an initiative. These are only examples and much more can be done to establish China as a dialogue partner and create a digital twin that reflects the reality of China as a responsible stakeholder in the international community.