Winter Games all about unity, breaking barriers

The ongoing Winter Paralympic Games, along with the Winter Olympics which concluded last month, grand sports events as they are, have also facilitated cultural exchanges among countries.

Yet in recent years, whenever China has taken a positive measure at home or extended a helping hand to other countries, some Western politicians and media outlets have accused it of having a hidden agenda behind such moves.

About 90 percent of the media in the United States is controlled by five big companies owned by white people who have close connections with the government. And one of their chief goals is to antagonize the American people against China.

Previous US president Donald Trump, for example, issued many policies against China. Claiming that the US' political system and values are "superior" to China's, Trump refused to implement strict measures to contain the pandemic and thus forced the American public to pay a heavy price－the US accounts for the highest numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the world.

From accusing China of inaction in the initial days of the pandemic, to claiming China is using "inhuman" measures to contain COVID-19, to slandering the country by labeling the novel coronavirus as "Chinese virus", to blaming it for spreading the virus worldwide, Trump didn't let go of a single opportunity to attack China even after it had largely contained the virus at home.

Later, some other Western politicians and media outlets joined their US counterparts in vilifying China. And after failing to demonize China by hyping up the "China threat" theory, they accused it of violating human rights in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The problem is that despite being absurd and baseless, such Western accusations will have some negative impact on China's international image and could affect its exchanges and cooperation with other countries.

What is even more chilling, however, is the recent discovery by a team of researchers at Suzhou University: One of the main reasons why Western websites are full of anti-China posts, especially against the Beijing Winter Games, is the use of social bots by some Western organizations to target China. It is necessary therefore that China take measures to counter such malicious attacks.

To begin with, China should use the successful hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics to neutralize Western efforts to vilify everything Chinese, by better telling its story to the world so as to help the international community better understand the truth about the country including its culture, history and contribution to the world.

Harmony is integral to Chinese culture, and China has always followed a policy of harmonious coexistence. That all things on the planet are interconnected is embedded in traditional Chinese culture. And as the opening ceremony of the Winter Games showed, the ice hockey puck can break through the Water Cube and the five Olympic rings can break through the ice, meaning unnecessary barriers can be broken and conflicts resolved peacefully.

The opening ceremony also highlighted the importance of reducing carbon emissions and following the path of low-carbon development. The overall harmony and unity that the opening ceremony underlined, and the green development philosophy it emphasized characterize China's policies. These very factors have been behind the economic and social success of China, and it will continue to follow them.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

The author is an associate professor, School of Foreign Languages, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics.

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