Harbinger of unrest?

The commotions arising from the Olympic torch relay and the negative comments made by CNN’s Jack Cafferty on the Chinese government might have culminated over the weekend with Chinese picketers lining up on the streets of Los Angeles and Atlanta demanding for the dismissal of Cafferty and simultaneous mass rallies held in a number of Chinese cities against the successful French supermarket chain Carrefour.

Both Cafferty and Carrefour became the convenient targets as they provided the perfect pretext for the protesters to lash out their anger - although in the case of Carrefour, their anger might have been misled because it was largely based on a rumor on the internet that one of the CEOs of Carrefour might have been a supporter of the Dalai Lama.

As the weekend whines down, no matter how much resentment still felt by the protesters, for the time being, large scale rallies may be coming to an end. One major factor behind this is that China, in view of the imminent danger that the boiling nationalism may easily turn inward and ignite protests against its own problems, has moved to cool down the “heat” by ordering online search engines to monitor and delete inflammatory posts and feeds and banning students from participating in any demonstrations against Carrefour. To the picketers living abroad, this means coordinations, support and media coverage from China will come to an end. The best option for them might be to claim victory yet refrain from going any further before the circumstance becomes clear. Although by and large they have failed to generate sympathy let alone support from the mainstream public in the west, they did manage to create the impressions that as if there has been a global outrage shared by all Chinese.

Still, the damage has been done and the consequences are yet to come.
For one thing, the west is again reminded of the ugly reality of blind nationalism that has been building steam for some time in China. The old memories of the attacks on US Embassy in Beijing and the riots against Japanese business interest in China become fresh again. Already, some foreigner who live in China have voiced concerns about their personal safety. All this will undoubtedly affect the public opinion in the west, diminish all the PR efforts made by the Chinese government and boost the validity of the so-called “China Threat” theory.

But more importantly, nationalism, if unchecked, may bring unrest to China itself. Given the rising gap between the rich and poor, the rampant corruptions and the conflicts erupted from land grabs, China may already be on the edge of having a new round of massive protests. All it needs is a spark, an excuse and nationalism can definitely be exploited for this purpose. This is why the Chinese government has taken precautionary measures to prevent such a thing from happening, but whether the measures are effective or not remains a question because Pro-Tibet, anti-China activists will unlikley go away and “patriotic” Chinese are also on alert looking for an opportunity to start the next round of battle.