Western public opinion misled by specter of McCarthyism

Christian Meister, a professor at the University of Strasbourg in France, was recently forced to resign from his post as the ethics officer of the "European City Cooperation Project", because he said something truthful and fair about China.

The city was discussing whether to allow China's telecommunications company Huawei to participate in the construction of its 5G network. Those harboring animosity toward China seized on some of Meister's past comments which objectively viewed China issues, especially his comments concerning the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to put pressure on him until he was forced to resign.

This is not the only incident of its kind. For years, some anti-China political forces and media outlets have been trying to turn the whole of Western public opinion against China. Anyone who utters good words about China will be described as "China's pawns", while those who promote normal exchanges and cooperation with China will be distorted into "agents of China".

It seems badmouthing China has already become a new kind of political correctness in the West. The ghost of McCarthyism is haunting Europe and America.

Many Western politicians badmouth China so as to ruin the social basis for their countries' cooperation with China. But their words and deeds only ruin their own countries' interests. China is the world's second-largest economy, and the largest trading partner to more than 120 economies; Those countries which work with China are embracing the future while those who refuse to do so are ruining their own future.

There is evidence showing that anti-China words and deeds have much to do with the rising wave of racism in certain Western countries. An opinion poll in Australia shows that 18 percent of Chinese Australians have been victims of attacks in Australia in the past year, while 37 percent of Chinese Australians say they have been discriminated against because of their identities.

It seems the liberty, equality and fraternity on the lips of Western politicians and the self-proclaimed objectivity of the Western media outlets do not apply when they talk about China or Chinese people.

Luckily, there are some Western scholars and journalists who insist on telling the truth. French journalist Maxime Vivas is one of them. He has been doing on-site reports about China and writes what he sees.

McCarthyism did great harm to US society in the 1950s. The West should learn the lesson from that and avoid repeating that folly.