From opposer to appeaser: 5 reason why China continues to lose global support

After months of hostile policies and aggressive tweets, China, for the first time in years has been cornered into taking the approach of appeasement to save face, after the QUAD countries — a grouping of four democracies, India, Japan, the US and Australia got together to counter Chinese influence in Asia.

QUAD which is a quadrilateral security dialogue mooted by Japanese PM Shinzo Abe in 2007 has taken new form since the Galwan Valley incident. The Wuhan virus added to the complications and turned the majority of China's allies against it, forcing Beijing to take a more neutral approach towards multilateral talks, especially when trying to flex its soft power.

1) How China wants to ends transgressions

Strategic empathy: China's misguided attempts to attain regional hegemony has not only led to losing its allies in the neighbourhood but also won distrust to its agenda and approach. Now its options for olive branch and trade are shrinking. 

Chinese app ban trend started by India and subsequently followed by the US, Australia, Canada and other countries is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, even Pakistan flirted with the idea of banning TikTok and debated it in its Supreme Court.

It has lost so many allies that now it is forced to join hands with Iran — the country best known for having some of the highest international sanctions and trade embargo against it for its human rights violations and various associations with terrorist outfits, not to mention its nuclear agenda.

Read | Is QUAD a viable alliance to counter the rising Chinese influence in Asia-Pacific?

2) Consulate General fiasco

Shutting down of Chinese Consulate in US city of Houston over suspicion charges of espionage and date breach is grave, but what's significantly more serious is China's only form of retaliation was to reactively close one of US' consulates in China, purely to save face and no other reason offered.

Speaking at Richard Nixon Presidential Liracay in Yorba Linda, California, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on July 30 stated, "The only way to truly change Communist China is to act on the basis of what its leaders do, not what they say." He went on to cite former President Ronald Reagan and said he "dealt with the Soviets on the basis of 'Trust but verify'. When it comes to the CPC (Communist Party of China), I say 'Distrust and verify'."

Pompeo was referring to previous incidents of China engaging in illegal spying and "influence" operations throughout the US. He stated that their operations and activities have scaled up significantly over the past few years. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray and AG William Barr stated that Chinese officials have interfered in domestic US politics, stolen intellectual properties, coerced business and community leaders, threatened families and Chinese Americans residing in China and more.

Read | Galwan Valley face-off: 5 reasons why China shouldn't underestimate India's strength

3) Xi Jinping's political gaffes prove costly

The UN, NATO, G7, G20 are some of the other groupings that exist apart from the QUAD to counter China economically, diplomatically and militarily. The alliance of these democracies has added more potential for new trade and energy corridors linking Central Asia with South Asia and West Asia.

Fundamental realignments of these groupings will transform international affairs, as global power continues to shift East, not very different from PM Modi's At East policy. 

According to a private business survey, it was stated that China's factory and industrial activity expanded at the fastest pace in nearly 10 years in July, despite only recently bouncing back from COVID, however, the findings of the survey also assessed exports and employment in the country have remained weak, in fact, weakest prospects since as much as a decade. While some of it can be attributed to COVID-19 rampage globally, the general distrust towards the red dragon also clearly play a huge factor.

4) Galwan Valley face-off

The Galwan Valley standoff between India and China once again opened old wounds as it highlighted the problematic relationship both countries share in the region. The border clash which led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers on June 15 and over 43 from the Chinese side has far greater significance in hindsight, as it was the beginning of the fall for the red dragon.

After facing immense pressure and flak for violating border regulations and LAC rules, more photographic and videographic evidence was unearthed from the location that showed how China planned the incursion.

US intelligence and a generally larger circle of friends and allies serves as another added advantage to India and helped gain better strategic ground. China is fast losing friends ever since it took on its ideological partner Vietnam, and Australia and the US for its role in the spread of COVID-19, further damaging its reputation globally.

Read | From 'President for life' to 'Xi Dada': How it's all gone downhill for China's Xi Jinping

5) Soft power and General goodwill

Starting from IP (Intellectual Property) violations to COVID-19 mismanagement, blatant lying of its origins, South China Sea disputes, trade, the economic war with the US, and aggressive OBOR push, China under the leadership of Xi Jinping is doing everything it can to alienate itself in the geopolitical arena.

Thousand Talents Program

The Thousand Talents Program is best known as a platform that has over 200 Chinese recruitment plans targetting the US and other foreign academics and researchers. The aim is to fish these high-calibre candidates and get them to work for China. While China has been anything but discreet in this agenda, the US calls the program IP theft — stealing of US technology and trade secrets.

India and China are rising economies, while China's economy is nearly 5 times larger, India's soft power greatly out shadows it, due to PM Modi's dynamic and assertive engagements abroad. Whether it is filling stadiums in foreign events or gaining strategic alliances with both UAE and Israel, India has been at the top of its game with its global presence and influence, less admirable things can be said about China, like its goodwill, its reputation as a strong country is also fading, in the presence of smaller international groupings all dedicated to weakening China's regional and global push for hegemony.

Read | Why Chi*a banned the letter "n" and top 5 bizarre words censored by Xi Jinping's govt