Angry nationalism

Like Indian nationalism, the Chinese variant too is prickly 8212; and takes offence at any real or presumed slight. During moments of tension with the West, Japan, Taiwan or Tibet, Chinese websites are lit up by the vituperative Han response.

The galvanisation of the nationalist sentiment, however, is not an unmixed blessing for the CCP. Once unleashed, the nationalist sentiment in China tends to be unpredictable. Shanghai, for example, was rocked by anti-Japanese protests nearly three years ago. The provocation was Tokyo8217;s approval of new school textbooks that the Chinese argue played down Japan8217;s wartime atrocities. When these protests gathered momentum in the spring of 2005, the CCP had to quickly clamp down.

The CCP also stepped in when protests in Beijing during 1999 against the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade turned violent. Earlier in 1988, the CCP banned protests against the killing of the Chinese diaspora in Indonesia. Uncontrolled protest, the CCP believes, could easily turn against itself.

Any popular perception of the government8217;s weakness on a nationalist issue is always a major concern for the CCP. Having fallen back on nationalism as the sole legitimising ideology, the CCP cannot afford to be seen as vacillating; that partly explains Beijing8217;s neurosis amidst the unfolding crisis in Tibet.

Patriotic dissent

If the CCP relies on patriotism to justify its monopoly on power, the Chinese dissidents too present their demands in terms of nationalism. Students protesting for democracy at Beijing8217;s Tiananmen Square in the summer of 1989, saw themselves as inheritors of the May Fourth Movement.

The movement was named after the demonstrations on that date in Peking in 1919, which had expressed outrage against the weakness of the government 8212; that allowed the transfer of German territorial possessions in China to Japan under the Versailles settlement at the end of the First World War.

If the bold Tibetan defiance continues in China, the big question is whether it might create space for Chinese political dissidents to step out into the open. Of special concern for the CCP is the high possibility of protests on June 4 this year 8212; which will mark the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen revolt.

Many Chinese patriots have long demanded that the CCP change its assessment of the Tiananmen protests, apologise to the nation for the crackdown and offer justice to the victims of June 4, 1989. You can bet all you have on the CCP moving heaven and earth to prevent any commemoration of June 4 this year.

Hosting Musharraf

India might be carefully assessing the uncertain political future of Pervez Musharraf, but Beijing has no problems in laying out the red carpet for Pakistan8217;s President. China is so confident of its all-weather relationship with Pakistan that it is not deterred by the internal political controversies surrounding Musharraf.

Musharraf met President Hu Jintao at the annual Boao economic forum in Southern China last week, travelled to Beijing and met other top leaders including Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing. Hu described the Pakistani leadership as 8220;good friends, good partners, and good brothers8221;.

We do not know if 8220;good brothers8221; is a new formulation on the part of China, but there was enough bonhomie all around. Musharraf called Tibet 8220;an inalienable part of China8221;, and slammed the West for politicising the Olympics.

As the Uighur Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang province join the Tibetan protests, Musharraf promised full support in cracking down on terrorism. China, in turn, offered all help to Pakistan in dealing with its current economic crisis.

The writer is a professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore iscrmohanntu.edu.sg