The combination of globalization and the digital age have severely magnified the power of information. How to respond effectively to this smorgasbord of information will test the long-term stability of emerging countries.
As the West is upstream of the world’s information flow, if the emerging countries in the low-lying areas cannot handle the information “drought” properly, they will be overwhelmed by the flow from the West.
An important symbol of the “lying low” phenomenon is the lack of confidence among emerging countries in their own self-taught values. The mode of information production in emerging countries merely imitates that of Western society, thus weakening information exchange. It is hard for emerging countries to follow their own way to set their own national political process.
History will judge the information pressure faced by emerging countries, and determine whether such pressure was positive, negative, or both.
For China, the potential of information independence is far stronger than for other emerging countries, but the pressure on China is also clear. There is no need for China to completely remove such pressure, but it should have a strong capability to defend against “information flooding.”
China should remove itself from the downstream of information flow. This has the same bearing on national security as the development of national defense forces. With China’s increasing power, it will become increasingly impractical to challenge China with military forces, but the possibility of upsetting China with information is significant.
The enhancement of information independence is not only to reduce the deficit of external information exchange. The whole process of information production in China should also steer clear of the traps set by Western values.
The process of creating negative information has been introduced from the West and has taken root. However, Chinese society is much weaker in tolerating this negative information.
We should not try to push back this negative information, as it would be impossible to do so. But if we can learn how to balance negative information, an important security hole of China can be gradually filled.
Despite the huge amount of domestic negative information in the United States, there is a shock absorption device that can balance most of the negative information in its social structure. Mainstream Western values, to a large extent, protect the basic social order.
In a multi-faceted China, many examples can be found every day to prove the country is terrible. But the people should be aware that any negative information is only one side of China, instead of representing the entire country. It is worth cultivating this discernment in society.
In the era of globalization, the country that has adopted reform and opening for over 30 years has to move on. China is doing very well to this end. China’s mainstream society has absolute confidence in the country. In the field of information, China will also grow stronger and stronger.