GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
The dominant theme of Western reporting on China is negative. Not objective or balanced just unremitting negativism. Consider the following; “The Party is a dictatorship…the Chinese people have no rights…China seeks world hegemony…China’s military spending threatens world peace…China is teetering on the brink of economic collapse…Chinese people are unhappy”
Each topic can be discussed. China’s model of economic + political development is quite different from the West’s model. That is a fair question for debate. China is new + presents challenges to established norms. China going forward is quite different from the West going forward. All good points for a sensible, balanced argument. But the West does not tell the whole story.
The West is partial, one-sided, unbalanced. The West is so keen to defeat the Chinese model for development that it distorts reality. By all means, ask questions about the Chinese model but is it right for column after column, article after article + speech after speech to represent China just as the Big Threat which is preparing to overrun the World?
The West prides itself on academic debate summed up in the phrase “On the One Hand And On The Other Hand” There is always two sides so why not the whole picture about China? Why not report the undoubted joy/happiness of the Chinese? Why not deal with the effect on the Chinese people of lifting 1bn people out of poverty? What does it say about Chinese education that China is surging ahead of the US in Artificial Intelligence + Robotic application? How is it possible that the 1949 “Sick Man of Asia” now offers its people a choice of work, clothes, restaurants, holidays + entertainment?
The West cannot change. It has to defeat China + China’s example. It is a titanic struggle. Misreporting will continue. Solution? – confront it.
