How dog-meat story forced China’s change of tack in defending own image

In May 2012, a Nation reporter trying to interview then Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, Mr Liu Guangyuan, was asked to provide a letter from the editor-in-chief detailing how the interview will be published. 

The envoy’s aide argued this was the only way of securing guarantee of correct reporting.

RESTAURANT

The reporter gave up. 

But the Chinese envoys of yesteryears, in general, would rarely grant interviews even at public functions or respond to emailed questions on certain issues.

It fueled perceptions, and distance.

Then a dog meat story happened.

On March 23, 2015, a Chinese restaurant along Galana Road in Nairobi’s Kilimani area got in the news for the wrong reasons: They were barring ‘Africans’ from dining there after 5pm.

The management argued, controversially, that they were scared of the Shabaabs and that Africans could easily turn into terrorists.

Things moved so fast and Kenya soon deported the manager, Ms Zhou Yang, who police had charged with being in Kenya and in employment illegally.

The restaurant, it turned out, was selling mostly Chinese cuisine and what looked like dog meat.

CHAOS

In all the chaos though, the Chinese embassy in Nairobi only reacted to the incident after goons entered the restaurant to loot.

Yet this response was somewhat unusual, as the Chinese often preferred to keep quiet until the dust settled.

Some observers, however, think that while the dog meat story wasn’t an exact turning point, it came at a time Beijing was also expanding its influence, which required more sensitivity to image.

“China has to constantly alter its strategies to fit into the currently global communication realities,” former Deutsche Welle journalist, Dr Peixin Cao, who teaches at the Communications University of China in Beijing, told the Sunday Nation

“The intensification of China-Africa economic interactions, the ever growing influence of China in the world, especially economically, and the increase of internal stability of Chinese society, all these factors greatly strengthened the self-confidence of Chinese government, which empowers it to be more stubborn in face of various criticisms.”

SH400 BILLION

In most spheres, China has tightened grip on Africa with its trade reaching $220 billion, in favour of Beijing.

In Kenya, that trade was about Sh400 billion in 2017 and China’s 73 firms in Kenya are mostly involved in multibillion-shilling infrastructure projects. 

By January, China was Kenya’s highest creditor— controlling more than half of the Sh587 billion in external debt.

That has fueled criticism that China may be rebranding to be a neocolonial entity, something officials deny.

“There is that kind of compulsion to change tack, to defend their position. Globalisation is having a greater impact on china than they can control,” argued Dr Elias Mokua, lecturer at the University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism and Director of research entity, the Jesuit Hakimani Centre.

“The US and the EU have been strong players in Africa, but China is also becoming strong,” he said.

CONSULTANTS

“It is time for them to stamp their feet. What that tells us is that they can have stringent controls back home, but certain factors forces them to open up.”

Behind the scenes, however, the Chinese government began working with entities beyond government officials.

Ms Seraphine Kiambuthi, a Commentator on Chinese affairs thinks Beijing’s shift may have been informed by need to guard their image.

“Over time, accumulated experience must have nudged them to change tact with regard to how they respond to matters that are likely to profile them negatively and that, as a result, could entrench the warped image and caustic propaganda China has suffered in the past,” she told the Sunday Nation.

China, she argued, realised that a delay in countering any besmirching of its people could dent its rising place in the international community.

In turn, they studied how perceptions against them are created, destroyed or enhanced.

“Sometimes the turn-around time you take to respond issues is the ultimate magic wand. Delay in responding to a crucial matter could lead to an information void that could easily be filled with rumour or conjecture,” Ms Kiambuthi argued.

And as one Chinese diplomat argued, the consultants and other entities they engaged started bearing an influence on how they communicate.

IVORY TRADE

“We have contacts in all levels of government and we engage with think-tanks across board. The things we do in Africa are based on the information we gather,” said Mr Zhou Yuxiao, China’s special Envoy for the Focus on China-Africa Cooperation, at a session in Nairobi this week.

Mr Zhou, himself a former Ambassador to Zambia and Nigeria, claims the love-hate relations the Chinese have faced in Kenya and Africa in general resulted from ‘negative’ perceptions fueled by some improper reporting.

In Zambia, for instance, he faced reports of Chinese prisoners being imported to work on roads, or meat from dead people canned and shipped to Africa.

“I gave a challenge to the public: Anyone with evidence to support those claims was going to get a reward. None came forward,” Mr Zhou said.

Consultants who have worked with the Chinese agree there has been a shift to ensure they do not ruin their status.

MILITARY

Prof Peter Kagwanja, CEO of the Africa Policy Institute and who has consulted for the Chinese Embassy in the past, says Beijing had no choice in quickening response.

“They have had to effectively respond to criticism that they are ivory traders, for example. So they had had to confront to issues that they can,” he argued, citing their expanding media organisations as one tool they are using to counter bad image.

“They are concerned about intense propaganda against them, from the West and they have to assure the world that there is peaceful leadership.”

Whether this shift will mask China’s real capability in hard diplomacy, where military might determines strength, will be known.

But Prof Kagwanja argues this behavior shift has occurred just after China strengthened its military, warships, airplanes and other equipment.

Besides, China recently removed term limits, allowing President Xi Jinping to run again.