Setting up ideological barriers to smear China doomed to be futile

By Zhong Sheng

During his visit to Germany, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo smeared China's political system, hyped up the so-called “China threat”, and tried to drive a wedge between the Chinese people and the Communist Party of China (CPC) by severing the bond between them.

Pompeo’s words were full of ideological bias and Cold-War, zero-sum game mentalities. He is obsessed with badmouthing China by inciting ideological opposition wherever he goes.

“In terms of priorities, every morning the first thing I do is read about China,” Pompeo once told media. As he kept talking nonsense, a question came up: is he also racking his brain every day to distort public perception of China? Of course, his unreasonable arguments will collapse in front of the truth, and he will not achieve the purpose of confusing black from white.

Under the leadership of the CPC, China's miserable fate of poverty, weakness and being bullied and humiliated over more than 100 years since the advent of modern times was changed. The country has embarked on the grand journey of realizing national rejuvenation and achieving great achievements that have been the marvel of the world.

As the mainstream media in Germany said, China is now one of the most powerful and innovative countries in the world. Western countries have realized that the rise of China marks an epoch-making change, and the speed of China’s development in recent decades is unparalleled in the history of the world.

Only the feet know if the shoes fit. The Chinese people are in the best position to comment on the Chinse development path.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Over the past years, China has helped more than 800 million people get rid of poverty and contributed more than 70 percent to global poverty reduction. The 1.4 billion Chinese people are unprecedentedly united as one and their patriotic enthusiasm hits a record high.

All people with a sense of justice will admit that the CPC has always represented and firmly defended the interests of the Chinese people, and it has been deeply trusted and warmly endorsed. Words and deeds intended to alienate the CPC from the people are considered provocations to all Chinese nationals. They are doomed to fail.

One of Pompeo’s activities in Germany was to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Obviously, he failed to reflect on the history of the Cold War, and couldn’t grasp the trend of the world after the Cold War.

Economic globalization and multi-polarization of the world are developing in greater depth, and the trend of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit is growing stronger.

Regrettably, some people’s minds still remain in the Cold War era. Pompeo is a typical example. He is so stuck by the dust of history that he couldn’t see the prospects and hear the footsteps of the new era. His Cold-War mentality is against the trend of the time.

China-U.S. relations are one of the most important bilateral relations in the world. Cooperation leads to win-win outcomes while confrontation to lose-lose results, while cooperation and dialogue are better than friction and confrontation. This basic fact about China-U.S. relations has never changed since the diplomatic ties were established 40 years ago and underwent drastic changes.

At the second China International Import Expo held in Shanghai, American companies took an active part in the exhibition and their exhibition floor space ranked first among all participating countries. This reveals that openness and cooperation have become the trend of the time.

At a time when China-U.S. relations have entered a crucial stage, Pompeo should realize that economic globalization requires demolition of barriers. Building a wall of ideological bias and Cold-War mentality and zero-sum game mindset hinders the development of the world and the progress of the time. It is doomed to be futile.

We advise Pompeo to think in the context of history and have a farsighted vision before making major judgements and choices.

(Zhong Sheng, a homonym in Chinese for “voice of China”, is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy)