I can understand this argument. But I disagree. China's unpopularity is indeed an American-made phenomenon. Yet, China isn't even putting the effort to at least blunt the impact. Having friendly groups outside is important. Even peak China will be a fraction of world's economy and population. Therefore, it would obviously gain from popularity both in terms of security and prosperity. As I said before, if China was popular in Japan and Australia, these countries' US client governments would have a much harder time justifying their military spending increases during a global economic slowdown.
I think the Chinese government is aware of this too. It spends billions annually on soft power, failing to get any results. GT and CGTN are arguably the worst state media outlets in the world. At least among the countries you could show on the map. But successful examples are extant too. For example Genshin Impact has recruited more "Wumaos" than Chinese state media ever did.
I am not proposing here that China should become like Thailand. I am merely saying it shouldn't be this hard to visit and should market itself. You can find a lot of stories about how people were essentially stranded in China after the landing. Phones don't work without astronomical costs, cash is useless, your cards don't work, you have to download a bunch of Chinese apps to do anything,... Most types of tourism are good in multiple levels, and China has immense potential.
Note: I was going to send the original post to the world news thread. It'd better if this discussion is moved to there.
