As the fighting continues in Tripoli, a war of words is taking place in the Chinese media and blogosphere. The revolution in Libya has become a subject of heated debate which may reveal more about China than the Libyan conflict.
As they have for the past six months, China's state media are still focusing on the "chaos" in Libya. By 25 August, in its reports on Libya, the state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) continued to use an on-screen title: "War and chaos continue in Libya."
On 22 August, the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily carried on its website a Xinhua news agency photo report featuring pictures of Libyans celebrating the fall of Gaddafi's regime. But the report was headlined: "Full-blown riot breaks out in the Libya capital."
The headline was widely ridiculed on Weibo, China's domestic Twitter-like microblogging platform. Blogger Truth Will Out said: "The people are celebrating their victory on the square, but Xinhua calls it a full-blown riot in Tripoli. Haha!" Blogger Huang Kui said: "Xinhua has come out to shame itself again. Has anyone ever seen riots that are so happy?"
The developments in Libya have become the hottest topic on Weibo in the past few days. According to Xu Danei, columnist for the FT's Chinese website, liberal intellectuals, who are overwhelmingly dominant on Weibo, have been celebrating the end of the "dictatorship" in Libya and the "liberation" of the Libyan people. Blogger Shanghai Zhao Xian, for instance, expressed his excitement by saying: "I'm close to tears. It'll soon be our turn."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement that Beijing "respects the Libyan people's choice" also provoked a lot of responses from microbloggers. Zhong Lei asked: "When can you respect the Chinese people's choice? Can we have an election?" Huang Yan answered: "What is implied is that the people can only make their choices with violence. There are no other means."
Chinese media have given different explanations for why Gaddafi's regime is coming to an end. The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid run by The People's Daily, accused the West of prolonging the civil war and causing unnecessary bloodshed. Its 22 August editorial said: "During the half-year civil war in Libya, there were many opportunities to end the killings and reach a political solution. But all of these opportunities were blocked by the West, who insisted on the condition that Al-Qadhafi must step down."
But the market-oriented popular press have given some alternative explanations. Qilu Wanbao, a popular tabloid in Ji'nan, attributed Gaddafi's failure to his authoritarian rule: "The reality of this country is very far from the so-called 'people's state'... Only the people can dictate the directions of history. Instead of agonising over how to keep their rein on power, heroes and strongmen should give power back to the people as early as possible." The article was later deleted from the Qilu Wanbao website, but it was later reposted on many internet forums.
Popular internet portal Sohu asked why Gaddafi has been cast aside by the people despite his economic achievements. The reasons given included his personality cult, ideological paranoia, "violent stability-maintenance" measures (Chinese: baoli weiwen) and corruption, which led to the phenomenon that "the state is rich but the people are poor" (Chinese: guofu minqiong). Sohu clearly sought to link Libya to China, as the expressions "violent stability-maintenance" and "the state is rich but the people are poor" are often used by Chinese media to describe the current situation in China.
The Global Times dismissed the voices of dissent over the Libyan situation. It said in its 23 August editorial: "Gaddafi did become a 'vehicle for casting aspersions' for some people in China to vent emotions, but this is nothing. Chinese society has long since been accustomed to hearing some 'strange voices', which is perhaps an embodiment of China's constantly expanding political adaptability."
But it may not be wise to disregard all these "strange voices". As media observer Xu Danei pointed out, most unofficial opinion leaders in China seem to see Gaddafi's fall as a "victory of freedom".
Source: BBC Monitoring.
