US ‘so scared’ of China’s progress? Communist Party mouthpiece doesn’t think so
People’s Daily the latest to warn against exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims about achievements, saying ‘arrogance won’t make a country powerful’
The Communist Party’s mouthpiece has joined a chorus of criticism against overblown claims about China’s strength and progress, saying media boasts that “the US is scared” or “Japan is in awe” of its achievements are hollow and leave the country open to attack.
The commentary on Monday was the first in a three-part series on the People’s Daily website and comes amid an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China over Beijing’s ambitious hi-tech industrial policies, and growing concern over the “China threat” to other countries.
“Recently, headlines like ‘the US is so scared’, ‘Japan is in awe of’, ‘Europe now regrets’ [China’s achievements] have been getting lots of clicks,” the commentary read. “But most of these apparently explosive articles ... are worrying.”
It also took aim at stories with exaggerated claims that “China is the undisputed world No 1 in several areas”, unsubstantiated claims that “Chinese technological power has surpassed that of the United States”, and generalisations about China “taking the global centre stage”.
“These articles are arbitrary, they are exaggerated and they provide ground for others to criticise [China],” the commentary read.