Attempts by the West to politicize Beijing Olympics have fueled nationalism in China

Attempts by the Western political leaders to boycott Beijing Olympics have spurred the sentiment of Chinese. Misreporting from CNN and mass demonstration of Tibetan separatists in France further fuel nationalism in China. Biased reports on Tibet’s crisis including the use of doctored photos are partly to blame for the spread of nationalism. The lack of press freedom and deliberate scrutiny of information flow on the Internet in favor of the government by the authority have deprived of people’s ability to think critically on issues touching their national sentiment.

The mass boycott of Carrefour in China is a reflection of how fierce nationalism may blind people’s judgment. In the era of globalization, Carrefour, just like other multinational corporations, has the supply chains distributed globally, hires local people and sell products manufactured all over the world. China is well known as a ‘world’s factory’ and has most of her products end up the retailer giant such as Carrefour. Therefore, the boycott not only does harm to the French company but also threatens the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of local Chinese working in this company.

Nationalism sweeping fiercely over Chinese communities around the globe is out of the expectation of Western leaders and mainland authority. Beijing is aware of the backfire caused by nationalism and fears it may ruin social stability and smooth running of the Olympic Games. Chinese nationalism does no good to ease the crisis in Tibet. It only deepens the gap between Han Chinese and Tibetans. Despite Beijing’s resource inclination towards Tibetans to improve their standard of living, this policy still fails to pacify Tibetans. It is clear that policies favoring mutual understanding and respect on cultural and religious differences are keys to the foundation of political stability in Tibet.

Western media's attempt to mock Beijing may backfire. Fearing the loss of business opportunities in the China market, business leaders may press their governments to ease the conflict with Beijing. This poses a challenge to Western leaders whether to place the priority of human rights and freedom over profit earning or sacrifice the core values of the Western world for more business opportunities.

The slogan ’peaceful rise ’, an intimidating term to the West, has been replaced by‘peaceful development’, a term believed to be more comfortable to the West by the Chinese authority. However, the surge of Chinese nationalism gives the Western world an impression of a rising power dominated by a growing population of irrational and raging nationalists threatening world peace and the interest of the West. Any unexpected actions committed by extreme nationalists would void Beijing’s effort of maintaining harmonious diplomatic relationship with the West for the sake of paving the way for ‘peaceful development’ of China.