Olympic mistakes and the cultural intelligence of the Australian media

Since the Olympic flame was lit in Rio on Saturday night, our Olympic broadcaster has done a great job of annoying its Chinese viewers in Australia. First it cut to a commercial break as China made an appearance in the opening ceremony parade so that Chinese viewers in Australia were forced to watch ads for McDonald's and the Royal Australian Air force instead.

Then it displayed Chile's flag, instead of China's red flag with five gold stars in the medal tally. Australia's Chinese community was furious and turned to Twitter and Facebook to express its anger. Viewer backlash also raged on the popular Chinese social media platform Wechat, which boasts more than 762 million users.

Yet the Chinese community is wondering how to read these mistakes. For those members of the Australian-Chinese community who see Australia as taking the "US side" in the South China Sea issue, being forced to watch an ad for the RAAF during the long-awaited moment in the parade was not only extremely annoying, it aroused suspicion.Channel 7 acknowledged the stuff-up by issuing an apology that theChinese news agency Xinhua published: "It was a mistake – and to the people who have been offended by it, we apologise unreservedly to them."

And it is history that provides the explanation. To the Chinese, the Olympic Games have always had a great deal of cultural significance. Memories of the "Century of Humiliation" since the mid-19th century are still fresh for many Chinese nationals. The label of "sick man of Asia" is one that modern China is eager to shake off.Wrongly or rightly, this is being read by some in the Australian-Chinese community as indicative of the Australian media's attitude towards China.

The Olympic Games are a national platform to showcase the physical strength of modern Chinese people and the Chinese dream of "The Great Rejuvenation". For Channel 7 to fully understand the rage it faces, it would really need to understand the symbolic meaning of the Games to the Chinese and their unparalleled nationalistic sentiment.

For the Chinese community in Australia, what comes across as Channel 7's trivialisation of China by editorial oversights, illustrates a lack of cultural intelligence by mainstream media.

Mistakes over the right flag and decisions about when to cut to an ad break are interpreted as a disregard for the unique heritage of many Australian-Chinese and this does little to unite the nation in the spirit of the Olympics itself.

The importance of cultural intelligence and "Asia capabilities " have so far mainly resonated in the business and education community. They are seen as a pathway to future opportunities and prosperity. Learning Asian languages is often seen as a shortcut to achieve these capabilities, but it's going to take much more than language skills.

According to Asialink Business, the National Centre for Asia Capability, to qualify as Asia capable Australia needs to demonstrate an ability to be self-aware and mindful of cross cultural differences particularly with a nation such as China, which has starkly different social, cultural and political norms – shaped by its history.

It's time for the mainstream media and other sectors to take action to become culturally intelligent. Australia's future is intimately connected to Asia, but this is a message the mainstream media has yet to fully understand – Channel 7, in particular.

Clio Zheng is a research associate at Asialink.

This article was first published in The Age on Friday 12 August, 2016