2011 report to congress - U.S.-China Economic and Security Review ...

dkrause on DSKHT7XVN1PROD with $$_JOB331a result of the uncertainty and anxiety that CCP leaders feel aboutU.S. strategic intentions toward China. 80Although the general narrative framework of the PRC’s foreignpropaganda is unlikely to change in the near term, the emergencein 2012 of a new Central Committee and Politburo leadership followingthe Eighteenth Party Congress may produce new slogans,and possibly modified explanatory language, to reflect the public diplomacypriorities of the CCP’s new leadership circle.Should ‘‘Peaceful Development’’ Be Taken at Face Value?Some expert witnesses who testified before the Commission thisyear raised concerns that the PRC’s official messages may be a deceptivecover for revisionist PRC foreign policy goals. GilbertRozman of Princeton University testified that ‘‘[t]here [has been] acalculated duality to Chinese writings. Has the Chinese narrativebeen intentionally deceptive? I think so . . . Having closely followedChinese works [I believe] that positions taken in 2010 that are atvariance with earlier positions are a result of prior concealment ofChina’s attitudes.’’ 81 This opinion was also reflected in the testimonyof Jacqueline Newmyer Deal of the Long Term StrategyGroup, who told the Commission that:The Chinese government prioritizes manipulating informationmore than most Americans realize and perhaps morethan any other major power. My analysis indicates thatChinese elites manage to deliver a range of messages tailoredto American audiences that could have the effect ofencouraging us to act, or in some cases refrain from acting,in ways that serve Chinese interests at the expense of U.S.interests or broader international norms. 82The testimonies of Dr. Rozman and Dr. Newmyer Deal are supportedby limited anecdotal evidence available from within the ChineseCommunist Party itself. In early 2011, lecture notes taken atthe CCP’s Central Party School were leaked on the news websiteChina Digital Times. According to the notes of this anonymous official,Central Party School lecturers told their students that the relationshipbetween the CCP and ‘‘American imperialism’’ was oneof ‘‘strategic adversaries’’ and that ‘‘the so-called cooperative partnershipis deceptive.’’ 83If there is a disparity between what the Chinese governmentsays to different audiences about China’s rise as a great power, itis not surprising: The CCP informational bureaucracy has longheld an ‘‘insider’’ and ‘‘outsider’’ view of access to information, asthis pertains both to non-Chinese Communist Party members andto foreigners. 84 The CCP has a deeply ingrained institutional culturefavoring secrecy 85 and a long history of proactively using informationto promote the party’s objectives while suppressing informationdeemed harmful to its interests. 86 China’s leaders have selectedthe reassuring message of ‘‘peaceful development’’ as thepublic diplomacy narrative that they believe to be most advantageousto China’s interests as well as the one that most accordswith their self-image of China as ‘‘a force for stability and peace.’’ 87However, the extent to which this optimistic narrative may divergeVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 Nov 10, 2011 Jkt 067464 PO 00000 Frm 00343 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 G:\GSDD\USCC\2011\067464.XXX 067464