Danwei has republished an interesting article by author and businessman James McGregor. It's absolutely worth a read. McGregor is one of the most experienced and astute China analysts around. As a flack, there was one paragraph in particular that struck me:
[After] 25 years of economic reforms and more than a decade of nearly 10% annual growth, Beijing is weary of and angry about America's constant criticism. The Communist Party leadership is turning this hectoring to its advantage at home, where the leaders understand that, while in the age of the Internet they can't stop information from coming in, they can shape how the people think about what they learn from abroad.
I think that is really important. There is a tendency when discussing China to focus on access to information, because censorship is emotive and easily understood. But as important as the flow of information is how that information is received and interpreted based upon attitudes that have been carefully and effectively cultivated. That is something for politicians on both sides to consider as they craft messages that can be easily turned against them at the very grass roots level they are so ostensibly dedicated to helping.

A fundamental lesson of communication is to consider how your words be used by others to suit their agendas, especially when they have privileged access to an audience that you want to reach. Of course, much of the rhetoric offered by American politicians is primarily for domestic consumption. In those cases, providing rhetorical weapons to the Chinese government might seen as nothing more than collateral damage on the route to a vote-winning "tough on China" or "pro human-rights" stance. What a shame, then, that this can have real consequences over here, in a country that probably seems comfortably far away to many of those railing against it.

By the way, McGregor's book, One Billion Customers, is entertaining and informative, and good reading for any foreigner who arrives on China's shores to do PR. Or any other business for that matter. If you don't have time for the book, read the article above.