Ordinary Chinese rarely openly say they are disappointed in their government. They are ashamed of their government. That they want to give up their Communist Party membership. And they think the PLA is a waste of taxpayer money.
It is even rarer for such angry comments to come from the kind of nationalists who stand by whatever their leaders demand of them.
For much of Monday and Tuesday, many Chinese applauded the harsh rhetoric of government, military and media officials who sought to block Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Later, when Pelosi’s plane touched down in Taiwan late Tuesday night, some social media users commented how disappointed they were with Beijing’s inadequate response.
There was no military action in the Taiwan Strait as they felt predictably led. No shots down, no missile strikes, no fighter jets flying next to Ms. Pelosi’s plane. Only denunciations and announcements of military exercises.
Many complained that the government let them down and lied to them. “Don’t flaunt power when you don’t have it,” wrote a Weibo user with the handle @shanshanmeiyoulaichi2hao shortly after the plane landed. “How funny!”
Users kept telling people who waited hours to witness how history was made that government didn’t deserve it.
Strong sentiment online shows the complexities of public opinion that must be dealt with if China decides to invade Taiwan. And they showed how nationalism can be a double-edged sword and can easily defy governments. Some anti-war comments that evaded censorship opened a window into the psychological impact of the Ukrainian war on the Chinese public, if only for a moment.
Some users have compared the People’s Liberation Army to the Chinese men’s soccer team, which has been laughed at in China as they only qualified for the World Cup once. They sneered at the PLA’s announcement of military exercises near Taiwan. “Save gas,” said one WeChat user of his. “It’s very expensive now,” replied another.
On WeChat, the comments section of short videos about military exercises has become a platform for disgruntled people to whine about. Among the thousands of comments, some Communist Party members said they wanted to quit out of shame. “I’m too angry to sleep,” commented a user with the handle @xiongai.
The comments section has since been closed.
Many users seemed disappointed, especially with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “When China said ‘strongly condemn’ and ‘solemnly declare,’ it was just to amuse ordinary people like us,” said a Weibo user with the handle @shizhenmaolulu. , wrote, referring to the words a foreign ministry spokesperson used about her. Pelosi’s visit.
“Very strict when it comes to domestic governance and very timid when it comes to foreign affairs,” wrote one user. “I was disappointed !”
On Wednesday afternoon, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she believed the Chinese were rational patriots and confident in their country and government when asked about public disappointment. .
The Chinese Communist Party has used nationalism as a tool of government since the Mao era. China’s current supreme leader, Xi Jinping, has taken it to a new level. “Nationalism is becoming a central pillar of both the Communist Party and Xi Jinping’s personal political legitimacy,” Kevin Rudd, chief executive of the Asia Society and former Prime Minister of Australia, wrote in his book. I am writing.avoidable war: The danger of a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Xi Jinping’s China. ”
The unification of Taiwan with the mainland, an autonomous democracy that Beijing considers part of its territory, is a central element of Chinese nationalism.
But as Mr. Rudd and others argue, the nationalist genie once freed from the jar proves difficult to control at times. “The issue has grown under Xi Jinping, and nationalist appeals have moved across the board from the fringes to the center of China’s propaganda apparatus,” he wrote.
This week’s online backlash is an example.
Most Chinese people didn’t pay much attention to Pelosi’s pending visit to Taiwan, but on Monday afternoon a flurry of official and semi-official statements emerged, suggesting that China is using forceful, and in some cases, to stop it. Many came to believe that military action could be taken.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who may be China’s most famous “wolf warrior” diplomat, told the United States on Monday that the People’s Liberation Army “will never sit on the sidelines.” We will undoubtedly take strong countermeasures to safeguard and territorial integrity,” he said. On the website of the Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, his two-paragraph article on his comments was viewed 2.7 million times.
That night, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, which is in charge of Taiwan, posted on Weibo that it was awaiting combat orders and would “bury any invading enemy.” This post has earned him over one million likes and an embedded video featuring footage of bombings and explosions has earned him over 47 million views.
And Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a tabloid of the Chinese Communist Party, has played perhaps the biggest role in stirring up Chinese nationalism over the past three decades.
Last week, Hu suggested on Twitter for the first time that China should shoot down Pelosi’s plane if she visited Taiwan. On Weibo, he called on his nearly 25 million followers to “support all countermeasures taken by the government and share the hatred of the enemy.”
“We will undoubtedly launch a strong countermeasure to attack the United States and Taiwan,” he wrote on Tuesday.
After Pelosi’s plane landed in Taipei, China denounced in many strong terms and announced a series of intimidating military exercises around Taiwan. But the lack of direct military action left many nationalists feeling inadequate. Their heroes, including Mr. Hu and Mr. Zhao, lost part of their halo.
Now they are posting short sentences to make fun of Mr. Zhao. video about his harsh remarks on Monday.
Late Tuesday night, Hu’s Weibo account was inundated with angry, sarcastic and abusive comments. A Weibo user with the handle @KAGI_02 commented, “If I were you, I would be embarrassed and hide without saying anything until the day of Taiwan’s unification.”
Harvard-educated patriotic blogger Ren Yi wrote a scathing commentary early Wednesday morning calling for Mr Hu’s influence to be curbed.
In a Weibo post, Mr. Ren said the government’s credibility could be undermined because the public’s high expectations were not being met. He accused Hu of bearing these unrealistic expectations and said his post was taken too seriously.
Ren is not alone in wanting to remove Hu, now a columnist for the Global Times, from his position as the most influential Chinese journalist. Other commentators and social media personalities have also been held accountable for him.
However, some comments pointed out that Hu was only part of China’s reaction to Pelosi’s visit, and that all accusations directed at Hu were a possible scapegoat for the government. suggests that there is
Anti-war voices have also been raised on Chinese social media. Some argued that only online warmongers should be sent to the front. Some parents worry that their children will be drafted. Looking at Ukraine and Russia, some tried to persuade their compatriots to understand that war means death and economic destruction.
Writer Zou Sicong, who has been traveling in Poland for the past few months, urged people on WeChat to take a realistic view of the war, learning about what Ukrainians and ordinary Russians went through.
People should be happy that nothing happened on Tuesday night, he said. “You should be lucky to still be able to work, pay your mortgage, go to work tomorrow, get tested for COVID-19, and live,” he wrote. “Pray for yourself and your loved ones to make it out of this impending storm unscathed.”
