The demon in their minds

The demonization of China still exists because some Westerners have not changed their views on the country, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Sections of the Western media have recently stirred a wave of China-baiting, which was quite popular some years back. Some Westerners of insight have also smelt a rat in all this. One of them is Thomas Heberer, a renowned German China specialist, who wrote in a recent article that the negative reports in some Western media were aimed at depicting China as a demon. He also noted that these reports ignored, most pathetically, the great achievements made by China through the past several decades of reform and opening-up. The stories in the Washington Post cited Mark Leonard, the executive director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, as saying that the story of the last five years has been about economic opportunities. The story of the last six months has been about China as a threat in Darfur and in Tibet.

In the past few years, some positive changes have taken place in the reports and comments on China by the Western media. They have highlighted the importance of contacts, opportunities as well as responsibilities as if the voice "demonizing China" has subsided. But this time, they hyped things about China by grabbing the opportunity of the anti-China wave and it makes one believe that the demonization of China is still alive; once there is a chance, it will definitely come up again.