What about Whataboutism: Unveiling Its Impact on Chinese Public Opinion

• In Event: Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Abstract

In May 2020, as the George Floyd demonstrations erupted in the U.S., a Chinese government journalist tweeted “Frget about #StandWithHK. It’s time to stand with #Minneapolis”. This was an example of the use of whataboutism: countries criticized for their actions responding by accusing the criticizing country of committing similar transgressions. While policymakers and journalists have extensively discussed the implications of whataboutism, the academic literature has yet to systematically analyze its logic or effectiveness on the audience of its user. To address this gap, we conduct a study on the effects of whataboutism on the domestic audience of one state actor utilizing it in the international arena: the Chinese public. Using a survey experiment of Chinese adult citizens, we investigate how the Chinese government’s use of whataboutism abroad influences domestic public opinion on various international issue areas. This study offers insight into how the rhetoric of exposing the hypocrisy of an external actor's criticism can protect autocratic regimes from outside criticism in the short-run, but also potentially damage existing accepted international norms in the long run.

Authors

• Dov H. Levin, University of Hong Kong

• Wilfred Ming Chow, University of Nottingham Ningbo China