Distorted view of China overlooks its many positive achievements
Chandran Nair says that while China has its fair share of problems like any other large nation, biased coverage by the Western media gives the impression it has no redeeming qualities
The cover of a recent issue of The Economist featured a Chinese dragon encircling the globe, covering it in smoke and flame. The title read "The world's worst polluter." It was a bold cover typical of The Economist, but it betrayed deep-rooted ideological biases and did its readers a great disservice.
It was, in too many ways, what has become the quintessential "China story" - one that emphasises the nation's huge and growing impact on the world but chooses only to highlight its negative aspects - from environmental and foreign policy issues to investment in Africa, it would seem Beijing can't do anything right.
The lone positive anyone can seem to come up with is China's incredible economic growth. But the hypocrisy of praising this growth with one breath and condemning China's carbon emissions with the next seems lost on most commentators. Even seemingly admirable developments such as China's level of investment in research and development are covered only from the perspective of the threat to Western interests.
The simple truth is that China, like any other large country, is a complicated and messy place that cannot be summed up in a cartoon. Equally obvious is that the rest of Asia sees China in a completely different light than the West. Yet neither of these facts is reflected in Western media coverage, creating a distorted picture of China for the vast majority around the world. China is no paradise but neutral observers must highlight some of the good things happening there.
This should not be hard. Surely, no one would argue China has no redeeming qualities. And it must be done if people are to understand the country that will shape in large part the 21st century, and to avoid the prejudice that can easily damage relations. What follows, therefore, are a few examples of significant achievements, in areas where China is typically criticised.
Firstly, pollution. It is no secret that pollution is and will continue to be one of China's biggest struggles. Sixteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China, a fact that the media harps on about. Yet almost no non-Chinese I ask can name a single thing Beijing is doing to combat it. The implication is that such efforts do not exist and, worse, that Chinese political and business leaders do not care, something that could not be further from the truth.