Hurricane Images Hurt China's View of the U.S.

By CUI RONG, ZHOU YANG and KATHY CHEN
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 7, 2005; Page A14

Chinese accountant Zhang Weifeng had always believed that in America, the government worked like a well-oiled machine. After watching television footage of the post-Katrina chaos in New Orleans each night after work, the 28-year-old from Shanghai sees the U.S. in a different light.

"I had thought this could only happen in developing countries," Mr. Zhang says of the chaos. In fact, "the U.S. government is not as powerful and efficient in critical moments as I have imagined."

For years, the U.S. has symbolized an ideal land for many Chinese. The rosy view has eroded somewhat in recent years following the 1999 U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade -- which Washington maintains was an accident -- and questions over U.S. military personnel's abuse of war criminals and terrorist suspects.

Now, many Chinese people and media haven't been able to resist a tone of smugness over America's mishandling of the disaster.

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"Katrina has blown off America's beautiful coat," proclaims a recent article in the Qianjiang Evening News, a Chinese-language newspaper based in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The article cites comments by U.S. police and activists criticizing relief efforts.

Chinese Internet bulletin boards have been flooded with comments on Katrina issues, many of them critical of the U.S. One posting says: "The hurricane has let us see the truth about America, when we are seeing the miserable situation of blacks, the old, women and children struggling on the edge of life. We can't believe this is the strongest and richest America."

While people in other countries also have voiced shock and criticism over the U.S. government's response to Katrina, for China, which long has listened to Washington's criticism of its human-rights record and its business practices, the handling of Katrina has damaged America's credibility in the eyes of some citizens.

It is too early to say how a shift in Chinese popular views might affect official U.S.-China relations, which have frayed over such issues as China's piracy of American products and its growing trade surplus with the U.S. Already, Beijing has at times been more vocal in criticizing the U.S. In its latest annual report on America's human-rights record -- apparently issued in response to the U.S. State Department's annual human-rights report -- China's State Council, or cabinet, notes the "atrocity of U.S. troops abusing Iraqi prisoners of war" and says it finds "ironic" Washington's efforts to serve as "the world human-rights police."

Liu Jinzhi, a professor of international relations at Peking University, says that in the past 50 years, Chinese people's views of the U.S. have gone from one extreme to the other, with America vilified under the communist system, then idealized during the last two decades of market changes.

"I think now Chinese people are coming close to a true picture of the U.S.," Prof. Liu says. He adds that in the long run, the change in public opinion toward the U.S. could "restrict Chinese leaders' [options] in making foreign policy" and pressure them to take tougher positions.

As the administration of President George W. Bush scrambled to launch massive rescue and cleanup operations in New Orleans, China's top leaders and many people expressed sympathy for Katrina's victims. Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged $5 million in aid to the U.S.

China has had its own share of casualties from floods and other natural disasters. Because the country often faces severe flooding, the central government has instituted a detailed response system that strictly requires authorities to get food and water supplies to affected residents within 24 hours.

Recent scandals over the U.S.'s mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay prison camp also have affected some Chinese people's views of the U.S. When news of the Abu Ghraib abuses surfaced, Chinese newspapers carried stories and photos prominently, and a bulletin board on Chinese portal Sina.com drew 7,000 comments.

Among Chinese, some of the shine is even coming off America's reputation as a land of opportunity, as China's economy keeps roaring ahead with annual growth of 9% or more.

Wu Chen, 28, opted to return to China in March after getting a master's degree in journalism in the U.S. He now works as chief editor of the Chinese-language edition of CFO Magazine, a publication of the Economist Group of the U.K.

"Many Chinese students, including many who had already settled down in the U.S., have opted to come back to China," Mr. Wu says. "It's a rising country with far more good opportunities than before. So I came back."