In film and in life, China pursues dragon-restaurant diplomacy
The Chinese film 'Dragon Restaurant' is being analyzed as a reflection of China's 'mercantilist' foreign policy in the Middle East. The film depicts the 2003 Iraq invasion from a Chinese perspective, highlighting a diplomatic approach that prioritizes economic ties over political ideology.
Why it matters
It provides insight into how Chinese soft power and state-sanctioned media attempt to frame China's global role compared to Western influence.
“WELCOME TO Dragon Restaurant”, a new Chinese box-office hit set in a thinly disguised Iraq, will not win any Oscars. The plot is outlandish, many characters cartoonish. Yet people outside China should still watch it. For one thing, it depicts the American invasion of 2003 from an unfamiliar vantage: not the green-tinged light show beamed into Western homes, but the shriek and crash of bombs slamming into a slumbering city, shocking and awful.In following a Chinese chef who profits from the war until it turns on him, the film also carries political significance. It sheds light on China’s self-image and its positioning in the Middle East and beyond. If it seems absurd to read so much into a movie, remember that commentators have used another one, “Wolf Warrior”, as shorthand for China’s aggressive diplomatic stance over the past decade.
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