COVID-19: China’s Soft Power and an East/West Divide

China has invested enormous resources in developing “soft power,” which is the ability to influence others through persuasion and charm. The outcomes are mixed at best. The Confucius Institutes funded by the Chinese government, which aim to promote Chinese language and culture, were implicated in scandals of interfering with academic freedom in democracies.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics is remembered not only for its grand opening ceremony, but also the free Tibet protests accompanying the Olympic torch relay in Europe and the US. The mega-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which built much-needed infrastructure to connect and develop the global south, has been shamed as a neo-colonial debt trap.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has compounded Beijing’s soft power crisis. No matter which part of the world you are in, the COVID-19 narrative you hear and re-tell begins with infections in Wuhan. Being associated with a disease is notorious for an aspiring global power. Worse still, as the virus became a global pandemic, the “China the sick man” narrative has been increasingly buried by the “China the culprit” narrative, which is even more damning to China’s soft power.

The death of Dr Li Wenliang, the Wuhan doctor who was censured for blowing the whistle on COVID-19, the virus that took his life, raised serious questions about political legitimacy, transparency and accountability. Before a sudden U-turn in attitude, Trump insisted on calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus.” Spain also launched a national recall of the COVID-19 test kits imported from China, saying that the accuracy rate was a meagre 30%. Turkey followed suit, while the Netherlands stopped using face masks from China. As Wuhan slowly emerged out from lockdown, China pledged to "do whatever it can" to stop the spread of the contagion, offering medical supplies, sharing expertise and contributing funds.

Yet, sceptics were quick to dismiss these acts of generosity and leadership as political manipulation. Many won’t even trust the Chinese statistics on COVID-19. Even the best political spin doctors would struggle to lift China’s image. However, to Beijing’s consolation, as the pandemic progresses, mistrust toward China has gradually been morphed into a more politically muted “clash of civilization” between the East and the West, where uncomfortable revelations of cultural differences, resulting in racism, distracts attention away from the debate over China’s culpability.

Yes, I am talking about face masks, the new cultural marker of East Asia. Megacities in China made mask-wearing in public areas compulsory. Hong Kong politicians from across the ideological spectrum distributed facemasks to win public support. Long queues for masks outside pharmacies were spotted everywhere.

The Hong Kong government not only offered significant subsidies to encourage local mask production but also used prison labour for mask manufacturing. The authorities of Taiwan, Macau and South Korea rationed facemasks, fixing prices, individual purchase quotas, and restricting sales to designated outlets.

The use of facemasks was expectedly widespread in Japan, which had a tradition of mask-wearing predating the SARS outbreak in 2002–2003, during which mask-wearing became a daily routine in Hong Kong. Mask-wearing is endorsed and indeed encouraged, by most East Asian political leaders and medical experts, who set themselves as examples. It is a major component of social distancing in the region.

By contrast, in the West, the general use of facemasks is not only an alien idea, but it is also thought to be wrong. Western governments and mainstream medical advice frowned upon public mask-wearing as unscientific (it is driven by worrying, not reasoning), futile (it doesn’t slow the spread of the virus) and selfish (it causes mask shortage for healthcare workers).

East Asian governments and mainstream medical advice, however, consider mask-wearing scientific (it prevents the transmission of COVID-19 by droplets, especially from asymptomatic patients), effective (it is crucial for flattening the curve of infection) and responsible (it makes public places safer for everyone). It is more than differences in opinions. East Asians living in Western countries face social pressure, prejudice, and discrimination as a result of wearing facemasks. The scale of the problem is unsettling. It is part of the reason why many East Asians "fled" home for self-preservation. It is no wonder why East Asians felt vindicated when Austria made facemask wearing compulsory in supermarkets, and the United States and WHO decided to revisit their objection to the general use of facemasks. Finally, China, a staunch mask-wearing preacher, is not just preaching to the choir of East Asia.

However, the question remains what good would it do to China’s soft power if widespread mask-wearing aggravates the sense of anxiety in Western societies?