China phobia places an unbearable weight on the world

Napoleon announced: “China is a sleeping lion. Once awake, she will shock the world ». Due to what Napoleon said, the “China Wave Theory” arose, but in turn the “China Phobia” was born.Historically, “Islamophobia” and “Russophobia” exist in the West. And what is the difference between “China phobia” and phobia of other countries?

Written by Karim Alwadi and Mohammed Kheir Alwadi in the form of dialogues, “China Phobia” has just been published in Penguin Press and has aroused great concern inside and outside the country. The two authors of this book are father and son. Mohammed Kheir Alwadi was the Syrian ambassador to China, dean of the Arab diplomatic corps in Beijing; His son Karim Alwadi, formerly known as “Hand of China,” is now known as “Mr. Phobia”. He trained at Renmin University of China and China Foreign Affairs University, and is a successful businessman permanently based in Beijing. The authors point out that Washington persists in considering that China wants to wrest world leadership from the United States. But they believe that China is not willing to play such a role. They write: “China is the only major country that has not launched a foreign war in the past 40 years… Simultaneously, it is also opposed to allying and provoking military conflict.” They also wrote that there is no evidence that Beijing tries to impose its model of government on other countries. No country is forced to accept predatory lending because of the “Belt and Road Initiative”; in fact, many countries have benefited from the construction of infrastructure related to the initiative, the authors question.

In the surrounding area, however, Japan is shifting towards a more foreign-oriented defense policy and substantially increasing its military spending; Australia, Great Britain and the United States announced a new “AUKUS” defense agreement. People can’t help but wonder, who are all these ever-increasing measures against?

It can be seen that, unlike Islamophobia and Russophobia which have deep historical memories in the West, Chinaphobia in the West is an imaginary inference caused by the lack of understanding of Chinese civilization and China’s system, and it is the empathy of the future fear in uncertain times. People are curious, what is the difference between “China phobia” and “China threat theory”?

Chinese modernization through the lens of my personal story

“China phobia” exists not only in the West, but also in developing countries, with different meanings. However, it is based on the fear of China’s future development and the fear of China’s rapid, huge and deep rise, and it is self-perception. Unlike the “China threat theory”, this is a claim concocted by the media, academics and politicians, taking into account subjective and objective sentiments.

The book argues that the US trade war against China is unfair, and its purpose is to “prevent China from catching up with the global industrial revolution.” There are misunderstandings between China and the United States, but the demonization is one-sided.

America’s Warhawk is disappointed that China has not gone over to the Western political system after its economic breakthrough. But this does not mean that people should worry about the peaceful rise of a country that has never sought world dominance.

As US President Barack Obama said in an interview with Australian television on April 15, 2010: “If more than a billion people in China live like Australians and Americans do now, all of us will be in a very miserable situation.” , because it is unbearable for the planet ».

It is very valuable that the authors do not indiscriminately blame both sides for the misunderstanding between China and the West, but rather explore its historical and cultural roots and psychological basis, and analyze the conflict between Chinese and Western values. It can be called a representative work with the perspective of the “third party” and the “third eye” looking at China. The authors look at China from a peaceful point of view, and not from someone else’s point of view. They are in and out, which deserves great attention from China and the world. The authors consider China Phobia, which combines Russian Phobia, Yellow Peril Theory, Clash of Civilizations Theory, and China Threat Theory, to be the loss to the world. The subtitle of this book is “A Missed Opportunity.” In the spirit of being good for the world and the future, the authors reveal that “China phobia” places an unbearable burden on the world, which can be described as the unity of inner knowledge and action of the new age.

China’s modernization through the lens of my story

The characteristic of this book is that it has moved from China threat theory to China fear theory. Through father-son dialogue, combined with the most recent cases, he explains deep things in simple terms in a continuous and entertaining way. This kind of dialogue is actually a dialogue between the future and reality. Unlike other books on China, the authors look to tomorrow from the day after tomorrow instead of from yesterday. As Syrians with an ancient civilization, facing the tragedy of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, are the authors reminding the world that suffering will be present if the elders are not listened to?

Another important feature of this book is observation from a neutral perspective. He is neither a bystander nor an apologist for the China phobia. He objectively and calmly analyzes the mechanism of “China phobia” and points out that there are no absolute winners or losers. In fact, the entire world is the loser of “China phobia”.

The third feature is to analyze the social psychology of phobia from China’s cognitive phenomenon in daily life in recent years, such as the historical and cultural factors underlying the trade war, intellectual property rights, the belt initiative and the route, epidemic prevention and control, etc. The differences between the DNA of China and the West are discussed, involving deep reasons such as Confucian culture and political system, and sinology and Chinese studies are well combined.

Considering the epidemic situation, how did the China paradox in the Western discursive system evolve into Chinaphobia? The Black Death of the Middle Ages claimed a third of the lives of Europeans. Historical research shows that people did two things in that time of the plague panic. One was to dance the dance of death together, and the other was to condemn the Jews for bringing the viruses. Today, this situation has returned, only the Jews have been replaced by Chinese.

unlike islamophobia and russophobia which have deep historical memories for the west, chinophobia in the west is an imaginary inference

In this regard, the book analyzes that the Chinese phobia actually reflects China’s dilemma: in the first place, the epidemic situation is really the bottom line. Once there is an epidemic situation, taking into account the high infectivity, all the localities must stop and calm down, and all kinds of economic factors cannot move. Actually, it is unrealistic (requirements are contradictory) for local governments to draw up comprehensive plans for economic development and epidemic prevention and control, and economic indicators cannot be achieved overnight. Therefore, it is very difficult for this year’s economic indicators to come true. Apart from that, the epidemic is dedicated to generating all kinds of disobediences, such as rapid variation, hidden spread, difficulty in tracing the origin, appearance out of nowhere, and sudden appearance. As a result, all the locations are sold out and overwhelmed. Meanwhile, even if they make a lot of training plans, they will be lost in the actual combat. Third, it is very difficult to continue to implement the current policy, and the relaxation is faced with a dilemma. Foreign countries relax, and domestic ones must avoid the “isolated island” effect and withstand enormous external pressure. At the same time, even if the serious disease rate and death rate of the 5th Wave pandemic are reduced, multiplied by China’s huge population, it is an unbearable burden for China, which may endanger the governing foundation, and It is not daring or easy to try. However, if we persist, the economic cost and the resistance of the population can also lead to crisis. What a dilemma!

This kind of analysis is quite valuable, and can be said to be beyond the cognitive level of most people in China. The author’s father, Karim, is a former Syrian ambassador to China. His mother is Russian and his wife is Chinese. It can be said that he is the best person to analyze this topic. He is called today “Mr. Phobia”, which is a mixture of Islamophobia, Russia phobia and China phobia. The world’s multifaceted views of China in the diversified background and the changing world looking at China’s strange situation make this book a rare best-seller for the study of China studies in the world.

1. Kerrie O’Brien. Face to face with Obama. Australian Broadcasting Corporation，2010-04-15.[2021-03-21] https://www.abcnet.au/7.30/face-to-face-with-obama/2673356.

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