Yes. Very wordy! Here is my interpretation: People who learned to read Chinese with their own sensible motivations or reasons (in this case, advancing or defending their interests) were more immersed into Chinese culture than they would have been if Chinese were a phonetic language. Reading and writing from Chinese texts (because they are not phonetic and tightly tied to Chinese culture) cannot be separated from Chinese values so those people cannot help opposition understand the vision of the local population just because they can read Chinese. "making it difficult" usually means something that creates a challenge or a problem. I don't know if I am helpful AT ALL. But good luck!

Wow that is a very wordy textbook. If I understand it correctly, "making it difficult" means The people were now literate but the system (Chinese writing) that they used to argue for their own interests is so closely linked with Chinese cultural values (values which the people might not agree with) it confuses the peoples' argument. Not sure if that helps.