(W.E. Talk) Understood or Smeared: China's Bifurcated Image

By LONG Wenjie and ZHANG Chenyi

(ECNS)--The research report “Xinjiang: Understanding the Complexity and Constructing Peace,” jointly published by several Italian think tanks, recently sparked international attention. This report’s significance may lie in that it not only shows the world the real China but also that people are becoming more and more aware of how China has suffered from international public opinion. The understanding of China worldwide is getting more and better.

The report points out that industry and agriculture in Xinjiang have been upgraded and developed in a scientific and sustainable way. Roads, railways, shipping, and other infrastructure have been developed. Multiculturalism and religious beliefs are respected and have become an important resource for tourism development. In terms of the global challenge of counterterrorism, the Vocational Education and Training Center has helped those who have broken the law reintegrate into society and fundamentally eradicate extremism, and our approach has been widely understood by countries facing similar challenges posed by terrorism.

The report shows the world a developing, diversified, and adorable China through authoritative data and firsthand research materials. In short, it shows the real China.

Compared with the disinformation and remarks smearing China in the international community, people cannot help wondering why same China has two different images in observers' eyes.

The Swiss psychologist Piaget's statement in his Principles of Genetic Epistemology may help to answer the question. "What is clear in genetics is that all constructions accomplished by the subject are predicated on pre-existing internal conditions," he wrote. The constructivist theory analyzes the question more clearly: if someone regards you as a friend, everything about you is good; if as an enemy, everything about you is ugly. A report by an Italian think tank clearly points out that, in recent years, many ideas from China have been rejected a priori by the West for ideological reasons alone.

Needless to say, China is complex and changing, and observers have different perspectives. But there are only two approaches: to try to understand China and to try to misinterpret China.

The report also points out that there is a serious absence of unbiased voices from scholars who have actually lived in Xinjiang and done research there. Those with hegemonic power manipulate public opinion and distort the truth, yet these rumors are widely spread. This reality reflects the distribution of discursive power in international politics.

Despite the rise of hegemony, more and more powerful voices have recently been heard.

Project Syndicate has clearly pointed out in an article that what the U.S. government calls "Xinjiang genocide" was sheer nonsense. The newspaper Singapore Zaobao argued in an article that reports of "forced labor" in Xinjiang were groundless. Westerby, former mayor of Flonn, Norway, and others issued a report criticizing some reports by the U.S. think tanks point by point, which contended that the "Xinjiang genocide" was ill-intentioned. The French writer Maxime Vivas, in his book The End of Uyghur Fake News, quashed the rumors with his personal experience of twice visiting Xinjiang. The Grayzone, an independent news website published an article to reveal that the anti-China activist Zheng Guoen fabricated lies by misusing falsified data and materials.

Australian Alert Service, a publication of the Australian Civic Party; Minas Weekly Journal in Brazil, and South China Morning Post in Hong Kong have published articles on Xinjiang's anti-terrorism achievements, revealing the geopolitical conspiracy of the United States and other Western countries to set up a double standard on anti-terrorism and counterbalanceChinathrough Xinjiang issue. Many developing countries, including Pakistan, Egypt, and Malaysia, are also increasingly reporting on Xinjiang objectively and fairly. At the 47th U.N. Human Rights Council session, many countries supported China.

Looking deeper into the Italian think tank's report from a historical perspective, we can perhaps conclude that the understanding and recognition of the real China is growing. Nature will always take its course, and so will history.