China's government has embraced an increasingly anti-Western tone in recent months and is adopting policies across a wide spectrum that reflect a heightened fear of foreign influence. China's shift is occurring throughout society, and is reflected in government policy and in a new attitude toward the West. John Pomfret points out the following:
President Hu Jintao has rolled back market-oriented reforms by encouraging China's state-owned enterprises to forcibly buy private firms.
In the past weeks, China announced plans to force Western companies to turn over their most sensitive technology and patents to Chinese competitors in exchange for access to the country's markets.
China has carried out more arrests and indictments for endangering state security over the past two years than in the five-year period from 2003 to 2007/
China has also reined in the news media and attempted to control the Internet more vigorously than in the past.
In foreign affairs, after years of playing down differences, it has reverted to a tone not heard in more than a decade, condemning recent U.S. decisions to sell weapons to Taiwan and to have President Obama meet the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama.
In a news conference on Sunday, Premier Wen Jiabao said he was aware of "theories about China's arrogance, toughness and triumphalism," but rejected them.
China's legislature, whose annual session ended this weekend, also showed the trend toward toughness. The delegates to the National People's Congress called for all Internet cafes to be taken over by the government and a declaration that all cellphones should be equipped with surveillance cameras.
In his news conference, Wen also seemed disinclined to bend to another American demand -- that China allow its currency, the yuan, to appreciate against the dollar, which (theoretically) would boost U.S. exports. Wen countered that he didn't think the yuan is undervalued and that the U.S. method of seeking to enlarge exports through tweaking currency exchange rates is "protectionist."
John Pomfret adds, "the Chinese people are no longer embarrassed about being Chinese," said Wang Xiaodong, a leading nationalist writer who has co-authored a series of popular books with titles such as "China Is Unhappy," which capitalized on the growing anti-Western trend. "The time when China worshipped the West is over. We have a rightful sense of superiority." (Source: John Pomfret, Washington Post, Mar 15, 2010).