How can China reduce the "trust deficit"?

Hu Yifan In international affairs, China is faced with the challenge of how to communicate with other countries on its own interests. Communication is as important as strategy. As a country whose strength is growing at an alarming rate, established powers and neighboring countries will naturally feel a certain degree of fear and doubt whether the rising superpower will threaten the national interests of any particular country. On the other hand, in history, China was often invaded when its national strength was weak, prompting China to constantly strengthen its own strength. This has led to a "trust deficit" between China and many other countries in the world. This trust deficit is mainly caused by the cultural and political differences between China and other major countries. Another reason is that the recent financial crisis has dragged down the economies of major developed countries such as Europe, while China has maintained strong growth. While China is rising, the economies of other countries are shrinking, which makes them not only nervous but also miserable, which can also explain why so many politicians and media regard China as a scapegoat. Distrust is ultimately a vicious circle, and the lack of trust will further breed distrust actions and exchanges. Therefore, with the rise of China, "communication" should play an important role in alleviating the trust deficit. Promoting cultural exchanges to reduce the trust deficit, lack of mutual understanding and cultural disconnection with other countries led to the expansion of the trust deficit in China. This is not to say that China has been in an almost isolated stage. With the increasingly affluent population adapting to the global trend through the spread of online culture, the days when China was "five to ten years behind" are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. However, it seems that this kind of cultural exchange is mostly one-way, mainly because foreign culture permeates into China, instead of China culture spreading around the world. This is a strange phenomenon for a country with the largest population in the world. Asian neighbors, such as Japanese and Koreans, although their population accounts for only a small part of China's population, their culture has penetrated much deeper in the world. According to basic human psychology, we tend to be more cautious about people who are different from us, so cultural exchange will help China look less strange and narrow the trust deficit. Cultural exchange takes many forms. Historically, cultural ties are often caused by the actual migration of individuals. For example, after the occupation of a former colony like Hong Kong, British culture is everywhere, and places with cultural characteristics around the world, such as Chinatown? Xiao Dongjing and Koreatown are branded with Asian culture mainly because of immigrants. In this respect, China, which has many overseas students and staff, has great advantages, and China can further enhance its influence on this stage by hiring more foreigners to work in China companies and continuing to provide enough opportunities for foreign exchange students. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the media became the dominant tool for cultural communication. Particularly successful countries, such as America and Japan, can export pop music? Hollywood movies and Japanese animation and other forms of cultural media expand their cultural influence. It is a bit far-fetched to say that people are familiar with American and Japanese culture because of the media, but the influence of these cultural media is indeed much greater than that of any domestic media. At present, the influence of China media in the world is negligible. Last year, China Media Group decided to establish joint ventures with American media companies such as DreamWorks and Disney, and decided to acquire AMC, the largest cinema chain in the United States. These major events were all moves towards cultural communication. Even if cultural integration cannot be achieved in the end, these practices will sow the seeds of two-way cultural exchange. It will be beneficial to continue and expand the practice of this nature, which will help to greatly reduce the distrust between China and other countries by cultivating cultural ties. Establish openness? Besides cultural exchange, an open and formal official communication platform should be established. Can a smooth and formal official communication platform enhance trade? Mutual understanding and trust in military and other fields. In terms of trade, the trade between China and its larger partners is highly complementary and can benefit both sides. China has made great efforts to improve trade transparency and currency flexibility, but without an effective and efficient fixed communication platform, these advances cannot be fully seen and understood by its trading partners. This will lead trading partners to think that China has neither made enough progress nor made efforts. According to the Brookings Institution report, the United States sometimes really doesn't understand China's restrictions. Therefore, communication can help both sides cultivate good feelings. Militarily, the current communication strategies often give people the impression that they are not flexible enough. China's way of communication on key issues such as the South China Sea in China and the increase in military spending has, to some extent, caused distrust in the international community. China can benefit from in-depth discussions with the United States and other countries and neighboring countries on core security interests and military principles. What if we can reach an understanding, ensure mutual restraint and provide appropriate guarantees to each country? Keeping their safety from being threatened will greatly deepen trust. Besides trade and military affairs, other issues can also be discussed through smoother communication. Generally speaking, can China elaborate on the overall importance of international relations and list some bilateral relations? Especially the positive aspects of bilateral relations with the United States. Internationally, China can seek to participate in multilateral dialogue, and the existence of multiple parties can prevent the discussion from turning into confrontation between two different camps. Finally, China can discuss a wider range of issues from economic to political fields with other countries, and formulate some norms that are acceptable in practice? Rules and expectations. By improving communication with other countries, it will be easier for China to implement a broader strategy. Promoting multi-level non-governmental communication channels can take multi-level forms. At present, many exchanges are conducted through government channels, either directly from government bulletins or through government-funded think tanks. This makes similar communication sometimes feel "boring". In addition, pure government exchanges often lead to a lack of sincere impression, because such exchanges are often held according to a fixed schedule and are subject to many restrictions. Opening more channels of non-governmental communication will help to alleviate this problem. Expanding China's communication mechanism and establishing more levels can increase the depth and multi-perspectives of China's communication strategy. This also helps to focus on different areas; The communication between think tanks is more about economic issues. The government may pay more attention to political and diplomatic issues, while non-governmental organizations pay attention to other issues such as environment and society. Multi-level communication can amplify rather than split communication strategies, while opening more levels can bring valuable new perspectives and concepts to China society. Japan is a good example of the successful application of this strategy. Japan became an economic power in1970s, which started this process, and it developed exponentially in1980s and1990s. For example, the number of non-governmental organizations in Japan surged from more than 20 in1970s to more than 200 in1990s. The Japanese government encourages think tanks such as Japan International Exchange Center and NGOs such as AAR Japan, which are committed to strengthening Japan's role in international dialogue networks and cooperation, to change Japan's image in the world. In addition to its own think tanks and non-governmental organizations, the Japanese government also provides huge funds to international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to encourage Japanese enterprises to establish good relations with influential think tanks and non-governmental organizations in the United States, especially in promoting trade and business ties. The expansion of Japan's international influence is consistent with its rising status as an economic superpower, partly because the international community expects them to start taking a more active role in the international system. As it will face similar situations in the next few years, China can establish think tanks and NGO infrastructure in advance, and gradually establish contact with influential overseas think tanks and NGOs. If Japan, which is obviously more aggressive in history, can successfully change its international reputation, China can certainly improve its international image. If it decides to adjust its communication strategy to a multi-level structure, it is necessary for China government to encourage and support these groups. (The writer is Dr. Hu Yifan, currently the chief economist and head of research department in haitong international. Previously, he was the chief economist of CITIC Securities. Head of Asian Economic Research at Societe Generale, Vice President and Strategist of Merrill Lynch. Still at the University of Hong Kong? World Bank and Peterson Institute for International Economics. He holds a doctorate in economics from Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree in economics from Zhejiang University. He is currently a member of the Yan Investment Committee, one of the six major charities in Hong Kong. What is stated in this article only represents her personal views. )