Beijing produces videos glorifying terrorist attacks on 'arrogant' US

Beijing produces videos glorifying terrorist attacks on 'arrogant' US
By Damien McElroy
(Filed: 04/11/2001)

THE Chinese state-run propaganda machine is cashing in on the terror attacks in New York and Washington, producing books, films and video games glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation.

Video discs filled with lurid images along with dramatic opera music and even the theme from Jaws have flooded the nation's markets in the wake of the attacks.

Disc after disc bear the imprimatur of the Communist Party-controlled media. The most popular DVDs have been produced by the Xinhua information agency, Beijing Television and China Central Television.

Communist Party officials say President Jiang Zemin has obsessively watched and re-watched pictures of the aircraft crashing into the World Trade Centre. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, workers at Beijing Television worked round-the-clock to produce a documentary they called Attack America.

Scenes from Hollywood films have been spliced between shots of the events of September 11, including footage from the 1998 remake of Godzilla, in which a monster destroys New York buildings.

As rescue workers pick through the rubble of the twin towers, the commentator proclaims that the city had reaped the consequences of decades of American bullying of weaker nations.

He said: "This is the America the whole world has wanted to see. Blood debts have been repaid in blood. America has bombed other countries and used its hegemony to deny the natural rights of others without paying the price. Who until now has dared to avenge the hurts inflicted by unaccountable Americans."

Officials at Beijing Television defended the video as an educational film that will meet market demand. A producer said: "There's this need for more information on world terrorism in the market, so we've got to meet it."

At the country's most respected bookstore, Xinhua Book Shop on Beijing's busiest shopping street, Wanfujing, crowds jockeyed around a table to buy discs. According to staff, thousands of copies of the video have been sold in the past month.

The shop assistant said: "Before people were interested in the movies but this is more compelling. What happened in New York could have happened in a movie but this is real life. It's better."

The many shops that stock pirated DVDs compiled in China and Hong Kong report that their most popular products are similar productions that use video graphics to show the United States suffering other damaging attacks on its tallest buildings and military installations.

On the unofficial films the commentary is even more callous: "Look at the panic in their faces as they wipe off the dust and crawl out of their strong buildings - now just a heap of rubble. We will never fear these people again, they have been shown to be soft-bellied paper tigers."

Elsewhere music shops are selling out of a bootleg version of the summer's top pop hit. The amended song implies that America deserves to suffer for its disregard for the point of view of countries weaker than itself.

The refrain says: "We guys are all Americans, our government is used to bullying people. We guys always have our hands on too much, this time our own people got hurt."

I am a Chinese living outside of China. The following is based on my personal experience and observation.

The China Government (with all her propaganda machines) has been nurturing the anti-American sentiment among her citizen after the Embassy bombing in Yogoslavia and the spy plane incident over South China Sea.

For decades, the Chinese Government has used nationalism to rally support from the mass public. As the Chinese saying goes: “Kill two birds with one stone”. The equation is simple -- The more they hate the America devil, the more they will support (and/or more tolerant to) their own government and the oppression. In this respect, they have achieved remarkable success in recent years.

If you can read Chinese and have monitored the Chinese open-discussion forums on the internet and the phone-in programs on the radio over the last 3 years, you won’t be surprised to find that public opinion is lopsided anti-American (up to an extreme ratio of 99 to 1). Any neutral opinion is automatically labeled as treasonous, not to mention pro-American. After the publication of the now notorious “Asymmetrical Warfare” by the PLA officials, the net was suddenly flooded with “1001 bizarre and grotesque ways to attack U.S.A.”.

I remember one Chinese geologist suggested smuggling and burying a nuclear device deep underground (right over the fault) in San Francisco to trigger an earth quake that kills millions of Americans. Among other equally grotesque schemes are spreading foot and mouth disease among U.S. livestock (poisoning milk, water, food, etc.); hacking the NYSE and Pentagon computers to deliver a heavy blow on U.S. both financially and militarily. The list goes on and on.

Their saber rattling was so intense and heated that for the first week after the Sept 11 attack, I have trouble clearing the suspicion in my mind that the attack was actually masterminded by the Chinese military (or at least a radical faction of the PLA). On Sept 12th and 13th, I was literally waiting for the Chinese to push the button and launch a nuclear attack on U.S. soil any moment. (Thanks to U.S. technology sold to China in the Clinton era, Beijing now have at least 24 long-range missiles capable of hitting most of U.S. cities, with warheads equivalent to 5 million tons TNT.) Of course, you can laugh at my paranoia now but during that horrible week, I was really frightened. Why?

If Jiang did push the button when the U.S. was at its weakest and most chaotic moment, I believe they might have a more than 50% chance to succeed. Until today, there are still many posters on Chinese internet forums that calls Jiang a wimp and criticize their government for missing an historical opportunity to finish the arrogant U.S. devil once and for all. Fortunately, President Bush’s resolve, poise and determination that prevented the country from plunging into further chaos had saved the day. Anyway, it was a close call.

Thanks to the Clinton administration, America’s military force is reduced to a state that it cannot handle two full scale conflicts on different fronts. Clinton’s best friend Jiang knows this too. His only concern is that a war with the U.S. at this stage is not to the best advantage of the Communist Party’s stability and China’s economy. In other words, Jiang also knows that their 24 nuclear missiles can only deliver a lethal blow to the U.S. but China lacks the financial power to fight it through victory. With the American commercial sectors like Boeing, Motorola, P&G, and other multi-national companies prostituting their national interests for business profits in China, this day will come very soon.

The Sept 11th attack on America is a God send to Jiang and his government. I must credit the old wolf for his sly and cunning maneuver --paying lip service to fight terrorism on one hand (thus avoiding direct conflict with U.S.) and trying his best to pin down the American military force in a prolonged Middle East conflict on the other.

The last thing that Jiang wants to see is a quick and effective American victory in Afghanistan. China was and still is a staunch supporter of the Taliban. They don’t want to have one more pro-American neighbor after the war, especially when the Pakistani Government has apparently shifted one foot to the U.S. camp.

China doesn’t want the Taliban to win either. The China’s best scenario is that the Afghan war becomes a hemorrhage on U.S. now weakened economy and military power for the next 10 years. If the U.S. is tied down in Afghanistan fighting a politically correct and limited war; and with the help of the peaceniks and pacifists within America, this would be Jiang’s dream come true.

With the imminent downturn of the US and the world economy, China is the only country in the world which can sustain a 7% to 8% GDP growth. I am not an economist, but how long does it take for China to rival the U.S. as a world leader and superpower?

Wake up and watch your back, America!

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