Would China let the US teach American values in Peking University?

As China and the United States try to reset their fraught relations, the word "reciprocity" will be a buzzword to watch for. After the four years of the Donald Trump administration, which made the idea of reciprocity the cornerstone of its policy towards China and pushed bilateral ties to a historical low, Joe Biden's new government is also expected to frame its responses largely around the very same idea - albeit with different tactics.

As the principle of reciprocity will be an underlying catalyst that propels the relationship for better or worse, what remains to be seen is whether China embraces the principle and is willing and ready to reciprocate enough to get relations back on track.

So far, the signs are not clear. Publicly, Beijing has put the ball firmly in Washington's court, blaming the US for driving the relationship to the ground on a wide range of issues from diplomacy to technology to academia to people-to-people exchanges. It also accuses Washington of ganging up with its Western allies on China without good cause.

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The latest example is Britain's decision this month to revoke the licence for China Global Television Network (CGTN), an international news channel owned by China's monolith national broadcaster CCTV to operate in the country. Britain has tried to justify the decision with the excuse that it is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Beijing has reacted angrily, calling the decision hypocritical and nothing short of double standards.

Wang Wenbin, the foreign ministry spokesman, had a point in saying that when CGTN was granted the licence to operate 18 years ago, the British authorities knew fully about its political affiliation. Its decision to use this fact 18 years later to take CGTN off air seems politically motivated and ridiculous.

For many people in China, that is another example of uncalled for provocation from Britain, which is forever in lockstep with the US in its efforts to contain China.

For others, this represents one of the challenges Beijing faces as it tries to manage its relations with Western countries keener to push for fair play.

Until recently, China's media outlets including CGTN had faced few restrictions to broadcasting or circulating in the West, including in the US and Europe, but foreign broadcasters and newspapers have long faced much tougher curbs in China, where their programmes and products are allowed to be available only at hotels catering to foreign visitors or the offices and homes of foreign residents including diplomats and businessmen.

As the Chinese Communist Party is stepping up ideological controls at all levels of society at home, it is very unlikely that it will provide reciprocal treatment to those foreign media companies. That can only mean that CGTN and other Chinese media outlets will see their overseas operations come under stricter scrutiny and control in those Western countries.

The CCTV building in Beijing, China. China Central Television owns CGTN. Photo: EPA alt=The CCTV building in Beijing, China. China Central Television owns CGTN. Photo: EPA

Until Trump came to power in 2016, the issue of reciprocity was mainly confined to investment and trade. Ever since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2000, seeking closer economic integration with the world and paving the way for the country's economic lift-off, foreign investors and businessmen have been lobbying for a level playing field and non-discrimination for doing business in China, just as their home countries are open to Chinese investments and trade. Over the past two decades, complaints have growing louder that China has fallen far short of its promises.

Over the past four years, the Trump administration had taken advantage of the cross-the-board frustrations to put the principle of reciprocity front and centre of its dealings with China.

Under the guise of reciprocity, his administration had undertaken a series of tough measures to impose restrictions on Chinese diplomats and journalists as well as cancelling the visas of students and academics linked to the People's Liberation Army. He also attempted to ban downloads of the TikTok and WeChat apps, and imposed tariffs on imports from China.

The Chinese government has cried foul, accusing a small number of China hawks including Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, of deliberately sabotaging bilateral ties with ulterior motives, while forgetting to mention the idea of reciprocity appeals to a broad section of Americans.

Even Hank Paulson, a former secretary of treasury and a long-time supporter of closer links with China, called for "targeted reciprocity" in a major speech on China-US relations last November.

Paulson disagreed with the Trump administration's implied arguments that the US would do with China only what China does with the US and that the US should shun economic relationships which are not rooted in reciprocity. That sentiment was widely shared by informed analysts who argued that Trump's decisions to restrict the activities of US-based Chinese diplomats and journalists and curb people-to-people exchanges were not in the best interests of the US.

US President Joe Biden. Photo: Reuters alt=US President Joe Biden. Photo: Reuters

But Paulson did argue that the US should demand reciprocity in sectors and areas in which America was most competitive and had maximum leverage. For instance, he argued the US should not remove existing tariffs imposed on Chinese imports unless it extracted a reciprocal and tangible benefit from China. Meanwhile, the calls for reciprocity are also gaining traction in Europe.

Back in China, analysts don't seem to agree what the word reciprocity means in this context of rising frictions with the outside world. Some media commentators have interpreted the word as "mutual benefit" rather than "equal treatment", as intended by the US and other Western countries.

Moreover, China's intensive propaganda on how the US has targeted China in a bid to curb its rise by banning Huawei, China's telecommunications giant, and closing down the Confucius Institutes, has further muddled the discussions and understanding of "reciprocity" in the country.

For instance, both the Chinese government and the public reacted angrily to the Trump administration's attempt last year to pressure American universities to shut down the Confucius Institutes, which are funded by the Chinese government and meant to teach cultural and language programmes to boost China's soft power.

Amid anger at the US move, both Chinese officials and the public have failed to ask themselves this question: would the Chinese government allow the US government-funded American equivalents of Confucius Institutes to teach American history, culture, and language programmes in leading Chinese universities like Peking and Tsinghua?

Whether one likes it or not, China's future ties with the US and other Western countries will be more and more about reciprocity.

Wang Xiangwei is a former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post. He is now based in Beijing as editorial adviser to the paper

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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