Is China reeling from "Weak Arrogance" ?
There was a time when China could do no wrong. Beijing's charm offensive wooed the world, especially Asian and African countries.
In recent years, China has also charmed Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) with its offers of economic cooperation and aid. It was an American -- Harvard don Joseph Nye -- who coined the term "soft power," but the Chinese have taken the concept to a whole new level.
More recently, however, China has taken a different path, with its public persona seeming to become more shrill, even arrogant.
Arguably, there is some ground for China to be overbearing. As many Western economies tanked during the recent global financial crisis, China's economy continued to steam ahead, underscoring the effectiveness of its unique economic model.
And arguably, being assertive -- standing up for one's principles and values -- is sometimes not too different from being arrogant.
Granted, there is a fine line between being assertive and arrogant. But there is a problem here, though: when China displays arrogance, the arrogance, more often than not, tends to stem from weakness, not strength. Or as Professor David Shambaugh, a China scholar at George Washington University, puts it, China's "defensive nationalism" is "assertive in form, but reactive in essence."
"Defensive nationalism reflects basic insecurities about China's society and place in the world. Psychologists quickly recognise such bravado as overcompensation for an insecure ego, and note that it can cause rash behavior," he said.
There is some evidence of this. The Chinese, like other Asians, are sensitive about "face." At times, this sensitivity is based on their own perceived weaknesses; and overcompensation for such perceived weaknesses can seem arrogant.
A problem arises when arrogance is accompanied by weakness or perceived weakness, which is evidently the case with China now. Such "weak arrogance" might create headlines, but do little good for global governance.
Strong arrogance is not necessarily bad; but weak arrogance is not necessarily good. (Excerpted and edited from The Straits Times)
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