Free to blame China, not free to defend it?

On March 8, a Chinese reporter posted on her micro blog account that Christian Mestre, a French professor who accepted her interview and spoke about what he truly saw in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in 2019, had to resign under pressure.

It was on Sept 11, 2019, that a Chinese media outlet published an interview with Mestre, who said that he approved of China's policies in Xinjiang after visiting there. He also said that the French public, suffering much from the threat of terrorism, needed more effective measures from their government so they could be better protected.

Yet this year, Mestre was appointed "ethics officer for the Eurometropolis of Strasburg", which was debating whether to allow Huawei to take part in their 5G program. His words were cherry-picked and a journalist implied he was one of the "pawns" of China, which led to his resignation.

How ridiculous for something like this to happen in France! Is there any semblance of freedom of speech left in this country?

France played a key role in the Enlightenment and has always been proud of "freedom of speech". When the Charlie Hebdo magazine was attacked for its controversial cartoon about Islam, many expressed their support by saying they did not agree with the cartoon but supported freedom of speech.

Yet this time a professor had to resign only because he spoke the truth about Xinjiang, a place he personally visited. Those who fabricate lies and rumors about Xinjiang, without ever traveling there, are still in their posts.

It seems there is freedom of speech to blame China, but no freedom of speech to defend it in France. There is freedom of speech to tell lies about Xinjiang, but no freedom of speech to tell truths about it in the West.

It is hard to imagine how radical and closed France would be, if there is only one voice about China -- the anti-China one. It would mislead the public, and form vicious circles that push anti-China political forces to public posts, thus bringing their relations with China to a deadlock.

Those who make their own world closed are hurting the interests of the people in France, and the Western world as a whole. Time for them to look at the truth in China with their own eyes, instead of being misled by lies and rumors.