Observer Report
Beijing
The White House recently designated another 6 Chinese media outlets in the US as “foreign missions,” the latest move of the U.S. political oppression and stigmatization against Chinese media outlets and journalists.
It serves as another proof to the U.S. severe disruption of normal cultural exchanges and adoption of cultural hegemony based on Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices.
The US on one hand is taking cultural export as a national strategy, and on the other hand is oppressing others in the cultural and ideological spheres, trying to transform other countries’ values. It exposed its nature of cultural hegemony and seriously threatens international cultural security.
Cultures shall be diversified, equal and inclusive. Civilizations have become richer and more colorful with exchanges and mutual learning. The long human history has already proved that exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations are an important power driving human progress and peaceful development of the world.
To enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges is a common aspiration of all the people across the world and conforms to the common interests of all countries. However, some U.S. politicians are incredibly taking normal cultural and people-to-people exchanges as a thorn in the flesh. Cultural hegemony is flowing in their blood. Last year, they even blatantly announced to launch a civilization competition between China and the U.S., and build a frame of U.S.-China relations based on the clash of civilizations. Such practice received broad criticism and condemnation from the international society.
This year, the U.S. further intensified its efforts in this regard and escalated its political oppression against Chinese media outlets in the U.S. It forcefully interfered and even hindered the normal operation of China-U.S. cooperation programs including the Confucius Institutes, monitored, harassed and detained Chinese students and scholars in the U.S., and frequently launched unreasonable lawsuits. These practices have severely undermined the normal exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, which obviously went against mainstream public opinion, indicating that some U.S. politicians are standing on the opposite side of the Chinese and American people.
Containment and infiltration are conventional combination used by the U.S. to shape and dominate international orders with Western culture and values. Some U.S. politicians, stubbornly believing in American exceptionalism, hold that the U.S. must make its values and democratic system universal. They believe that’s the only way to maintain their national security.
Driven by cultural hegemony, the U.S. is massively selling its own ideology in the world and fanning up ideological confrontation. After the September 11 attacks, the White House launched the Greater Middle East Initiative, taking Iraq as a test field for American democracy.
