International Communication and National Image

Author: Liu Jining et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2002-03-01
Features: Democracy is an extremely noble concept. Therefore, even those countries that adhere to the principle of "minority rights are justice" have no reason to openly criticize the establishment of a new order. Thus, when Mahathir clashed with the United States, the U.S. government was able to swallow its anger; when world public opinion condemned inhumane countries, these countries had to find excuses for themselves. However, the essence of democracy goes far beyond this. The essence of democracy is that all countries can exercise their power in international affairs freely and equally. Federico Mayor, the Director-General of UNESCO, once said that if numerous younger third-world countries, as well as smaller but very important late-industrializing countries, lose the sense of participation in common affairs, feeling excluded on the periphery of a world where they have little say, then democracy will be in peril. ① It is clear that democracy is indeed very important in international relations. History has shown that international communication plays an irreplaceable role in the democratization of international relations. Without international communication, there can be no improvement in the transparency of international relations; without international communication, countries cannot communicate their views and ideas more quickly and accurately; without international communication, small countries would almost lose all sources of external information, let alone the possibility of equal participation. In today's and tomorrow's world, where information, ideas, and theories are increasingly abundant and rapidly flowing, international communication will inevitably make greater contributions to building a more democratic, just, and reasonable international society.
When it comes to the democratization of international relations, there is another related issue that cannot be mentioned without being mentioned: the democratization of foreign policy decision-making. The process of foreign policy decision-making itself is an internal matter of a country, but as the degree of global interconnection and interdependence deepens, a country's foreign policy often touches upon or affects the entire surrounding region and even the entire world. The lines between domestic and foreign affairs are becoming increasingly blurred, and therefore, the decision-making of a country's foreign policy is closely related to international relations. Foreign policy has a significant impact and role in the political, economic, military, and cultural fields of the host country, neighboring countries, and neighboring regions. The foreign policy of a pivotal country also has an impact and role in these areas on a global scale.
Given the importance of foreign policy, decision-makers must carefully choose the best solution during the decision-making process. The so-called "best solution" should be the final decision that aligns with the fundamental interests of the country, gains the of the majority of the population, and is realistically feasible. To reach a basic consensus with the public, the best choice is to involve as many people as possible in the early and mid-stages of the decision-making process, such as through public opinion polls, opinion surveys, expert consultations, and the writings of various elites, through various channels and means, to pool wisdom and make the decision-making process more scientific and reduce errors.
There is an old Chinese saying: "Three cobblers with their wits combined are equal to Zhuge Liang the," which vividly illustrates people's affirmation and pursuit of collective wisdom. Additionally, expressed in appropriate ways can also play a very effective auxiliary role in the government's foreign policy operations. In 1996, the best-selling book China Can Say No in mainland China caused great unease among some U.S. officials who valued and cherished China-U.S. relations. After realizing that the Chinese public had extremely strong anti-American sentiments, the United States appropriately adjusted its policy toward China. For example, in 1996, the book Spratly Islands, Oil Politics, International Law by Chinese mainland scholars published in Hong Kong strongly constrained the aggressive stance and attitude of some countries on the issue of the Spratly Islands, thereby expressing China's position on the issue when the Chinese government was reluctant to make a clear statement.
Of course, it is very clear that the democratization of foreign policy decision-making does not mean the publicization of foreign policy decision-making. It is obviously unrealistic and unfeasible to let everyone or the majority directly participate in the foreign policy decision-making process. The final decision-making power of foreign policy is always in the hands of a few people, and this process will remain unchanged for a long time. However, foreign policy decision-making must be scientific and democratic, allowing the majority of members of society, especially the elite class with the ability to participate, to indirectly participate in the decision-making process. Otherwise, from the perspective of political science, "if the desire for participation of system members is not realized, their trust in the political system will decrease. And when the political system lacks sufficient supportive input, it will eventually erode their identification with the system."
Change the old order, establish a new order The establishment of a new international order should include the establishment of a new international communication order. On one hand, the new international communication order is part of the entire new international relations order. If international communication remains in its old state, the content of the new international relations order will inevitably be incomplete and incomplete. On the other hand, only after establishing a new international communication order can international communication truly create a fair, reasonable, and healthy public opinion space and atmosphere for the establishment of a new international relations order. To this end, international communication should achieve the following points.
1. Report on international affairs fairly and balance. The healthy development of international relations requires close attention from international communication, but this attention must be fair and balanced. For a long time, international communication between countries has been monopolized by developed countries in the West. Therefore, international communication, especially when reporting on developing countries or international affairs, is inevitably tinted with the ready-made glasses of industrialized countries to distinguish right from wrong. In most cases, its reports are either incomplete or focus on the negative aspects, or are not true. This phenomenon has led to the struggle to establish a new international news communication order, which has continued to this day. In September 1996, representatives from more than 80 countries gathered in Abuja, Nigeria, for the 5th Non-Aligned Countries Ministerial Conference on Information, and the conference issued the Final Declaration, calling on non-aligned countries to fight a decisive battle against the "biased and distorted reporting" of Western media on non-aligned countries. Although the international community has long been committed to fighting against unfair and unbalanced news reporting, it has not achieved substantive results. Instead, in some cases, this phenomenon has become even more severe. As a tool for promoting national policies and spreading values, international communication has inherent values, biases, and prejudices from the very beginning, and these have only increased in today's tense international political struggles. In some communication systems, the phenomenon of reporting on foreign or international affairs one-sidedly, distorting, taking things out of context, and making subjective assumptions is becoming more and more serious, and this trend is spreading globally. In recent years, political forces from some countries have once again clashed in the Balkans. While political and military struggles were underway, international communication also joined the competition with banners and drums. If you are an outsider, you will certainly be confused and unable to distinguish between truth and fiction by the news reports. Because the information you hear or see from completely opposing media is also completely different—either completely Muslims, Croats, and Kosovo Albanians are cleared, or completely Serbs are killed. More often than not, the public opinion struggle in international communication is about whose voice is louder, rather than whose content is more truthful. It seems that the louder the voice, the more truth it possesses. Under this wrong concept, some political communication forces are willing to use extremely extreme means to suppress and eliminate opposing forces. The spirit of objective, fair, and free reporting has long been thrown into the sky. Goebbels once said, "A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth."