City Beat | Hong Kong has definite role to play in boosting understanding with regional neighbours

I recently had a chance to meet a diplomat from an Asian country which has disputes with China over both historical and current issues.

Interestingly, he told me that despite all the disagreements between the two countries, his government was looking for ways to promote bilateral people-to-people exchanges. That was why he wanted to talk to us so as to better grasp the subtle differences between Hong Kong and mainland China in terms of public sentiment towards his country.

It would be quite telling to take, as an example, how China defends its sovereignty claims over the South China Sea. The latest international tribunal ruling surely angered both Beijing and many Chinese people. Strong and even emotional reactions were only natural. However, certain critics also pointed out that China could have done a better job in presenting its case to the world by crafting a more sophisticated public relations campaign.

It’s always easier said than done. It can be said that until recent years, terms such as “political PR” and “soft power” were pretty new concepts for mainland China and for the Beijing leadership. Whenever China wants to make a case for itself on the world stage, certain entrenched political, historical and cultural factors with underlying “Chinese characteristics” shape its way of expression, which sometimes may not be totally understood and accepted by others.

Under “one country, two systems”, sometimes public sentiment in mainland China can be different from that in Hong Kong due to various reasons, which was also the case in the recent tribunal ruling.

It led to radical patriotic protests outside KFC outlets on the mainland. On one occasion, protesters surrounded a table of three who were enjoying their food and chanted slogans of “Chinese should boycott KFC”, making the three unfortunate fried chicken fans look like “traitors”. Official media immediately called for cooler heads to prevail after these incidents.