Why do I not feel paranoid?

I have not been detained or deported. I don't feel paranoid. I don't feel the urge to look over my shoulder or wonder whether my neighbor is reporting a suspicious-looking foreign character who keeps odd hours.

In short, I don't feel any ripples of the wave of anxiety reported to be sweeping the expat community in Beijing following a three-month campaign to check on foreigners overstaying their visas or working illegally.

I don't carry my passport with me. For one full week recently, I didn't even have it - as my work visa was being renewed.

Most, if not all, of my expat colleagues - about two score in China Daily - also don't seem to carry their passports on them; and none of them have reported any sudden tensions as a result of being a foreigner.

Yet reading the comments in some foreign media and expat online forums you would think we are in the midst of a second Boxer Uprising, that xenophobia is the new national sport and all foreigners fair game.

For those not in the loop here is a quick recap:

Many Chinese netizens were outraged when videos of a Russian verbally abusing a Chinese woman passenger on a train and a Briton seemingly sexually assaulting a Chinese woman on a street were posted online.

Provocative comments by a well-known TV host led to similar feelings among some expats when he wrote on this micro blog that some "foreign trash", whom he labeled as traffickers, spies or unemployed, should be thrown out of the country.

As a result the 100-day campaign to crack down on foreigners illegally staying or working in Beijing, which was already scheduled and should have been just a water cooler moment, has become a cause celebre.

There have been inventive tales of intrigue, linking the campaign to political events in Chongqing, tensions in the South China Sea and the upcoming once-every-five-years congress of the Party, where it is expected the leadership will be passed on to the next generation.

But if this was the case, why then restrict the campaign to Beijing? There are more foreigners living in Shanghai, for example.

A few home truths seem to have got lost in this "fog of war", as shown by representative quotes in an earlier China Daily Cover Story:

"Foreigners enjoy many privileges in China and they are treated much better. They have been spoiled." This from a senior associate at a public relations company, and a sentiment widely shared among the Chinese.

"It is an open secret that many foreign teachers in China's English institutes are holding tourist visas." This from a professor of sociology at Tsinghua University, and a sentiment widely shared among both expats and the Chinese.

"One of my friends was stopped for speeding on his motorcycle, but as soon as he removed his helmet and the police found out he was a foreigner, they just let him go." This from a 26-year-old US documentary producer, again a sentiment widely shared among both expats and the Chinese.

How many expats in the city can say, hand-on-heart, that the Chinese have suddenly turned against them?

Which brings us to the elephant in the room: foreigners working illegally.

It is normal for a country, or a city, to check whether foreigners have the legal status to stay or work.

It is certainly normal when official figures show that the number of foreigners working illegally has been steadily on the rise and their credentials are dubious.

Isn't it true that foreigners working legally would be better off not being tarred with the same brush?

The truth is, China is still wooing foreigners to work at schools, universities, State-owned enterprises, research institutes and the media. The "foreign talent" program is in full swing. Every year, dozens of foreigners are honored for their contributions.

Let's keep it that way.

PS: An appeal to the authorities: Please devise a smart card ID so we don't have to carry our passports.

The author is editor-at-large of China Daily. Email: ravi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/07/2012 page10)