Vigilance must be kept to fend off McCarthyism in western public opinion

Over 70 years ago, when the United States was haunted by the notorious McCarthyism awash with vilification and frame-up, the American society was ripped apart and stuck into an ideological bigotry against communism.

Recently, the spectre of McCarthyism has appeared to resurface in the western public opinion sphere, with a motive to instigate ideological antagonism and confrontation against China.

Christian Mestre, a French professor from the University of Strasbourg, has recently been forced to step down from his post as the ethics officer of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis because of his academic relations with and alleged service for China, which was fiercely bashed and distorted by some French media outlets and anti-China politicians.

Those French media outlets also invoked his viewpoints in 2019 when he attended an international seminar on counter-terrorism, de-radicalization and human rights protection in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The professor, reviled as "China's pawn," spoke highly of the country's counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures in Xinjiang in an interview, and called on France and other European countries to learn from China's anti-terrorism measures.

Has criticizing or even smearing China become a new type of "political correctness" in western public opinion? Does the West now tend to regard as vicious all the objective narratives and comments on China, as well as efforts to promote cooperation with China?

If so, one cannot help but wonder whether it is the freedom of speech, under the banner of objectivity and impartiality, once boasted by the western world.

Nowadays, it has become unsurprising that some western politicians and media vilify and demonize China to pursue self-serving political and economic interests, as well as contain China's development through meddling in its internal affairs. Defamation of Xinjiang is a frequently-used tool of those anti-China forces.

In fact, a multitude of western media reports on Xinjiang and China's Xinjiang policy are lies, fabrication and vilification, as they deliberately distorted facts, concocted stories and selectively presented information to serve their ulterior motives.

Much worse, the case of Professor Mestre has demonstrated that those forces would not only suppress any voice different from what they hyped up about Xinjiang, but also attempt to incite ideological antagonism against China, which evokes the horrible ghost of McCarthyism.

Such egregious moves would only boomerang and hurt the western community's overall interests. Pushing anti-China voices to become "politically correct" will largely erode the foundation for cooperation between China and western countries, as it stirs up hostility towards China among the public in the West.

Indulging Sinophobia and sowing hatred of China will also stoke discrimination and racism in the West. A recent survey from Australia's Lowy Institute, conducted with over 1,000 Chinese Australians in November 2020, found 18 percent of the participants had been physically threatened or attacked because of their Chinese heritage, and 37 percent said they had been treated differently or less favorably for the same reason.

Letting anti-China voices, full of lies and biases, go unchecked in the mainstream of western public opinion will also damage the credibility of the western community and strike a heavy blow to the freedom of speech that it flaunts.

Fortunately, quite a few western scholars and media professionals believe that their countries should view China's development objectively and respect its strength, so as to avoid losses caused by misunderstanding of and deliberate alienation from one of the world's top economies. Moreover, many have been telling China story on the basis of facts and fairness.

China always welcomes foreigners from all walks of life to visit Xinjiang and see for themselves the real situation there so as to avoid being deceived.

A healthy public opinion sphere is in no way confined to only one type of perspectives. Before McCarthyism poisons their public opinion, westerners should stop viewing China through colored spectacles and categorically reject the hijacking of their public opinion for political interests.