China should be rediscovered without western media framing, says German author

BERLIN -- China should be rediscovered without certain western media framing, said Michael Lueders, a well-known German writer, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"It's very rare that you find an objective, analytical piece that describes in detail what's going on within domestic policies in China. We always have a certain framing," said Lueders.

In his recently published book in German, The Hypocritical Superpower, Lueders analyzed many news patterns and noted that many western media reports are somehow framed and filtered by interest groups in the United States.

Some reports tend to simplify the complicated geopolitical issues into a combat between "we western allies the good guys" against China and Russia "the evil ones," he said.

"This framing makes it very clear ... This, in my view, is a wrong thinking. It's a dangerous thinking because it leads to a confrontational policy," said the author.

Lueders said the recent example is the US media campaign promoting conspiracy theories of coronavirus lab leaks in China, and intentionally calling it "Wuhan virus."

"They need a scapegoat because it was quite a failure to see how (Donald) Trump's administration dealt with corona(virus), and then came up with the idea of Wuhan virus and China virus and so on, the lever laboratory theory. And the idea is to create a negative image," he said.

"I think it's quite okay (for the media) to criticize American policies, Russian or Chinese policies. But there is a difference between criticism and demonization. And demonization is what we see in many European and western media when it comes to China," he added.

Lueders explained that his target readers are mostly Germans and Europeans, with hopes that local media and audience can abandon such framing and "step out of the shadow of the USA."

He said in the past year it was quite popular for European media to criticize American policies during Trump administration, but since Joe Biden took office there has been blind optimism and relief in Germany and Europe.

"Most people think that now German-American, European-American relations will improve. However, what most people do not really see or do not want to see is that United States, as any other superpower in history, of course follows its own interests," said the author.

Citing some poll numbers, Lueders said most Germans want to remain neutral when conflicts erupted between the United States and China, but this attitude however is rarely presented by media.

"My message is clear. Dialogue and cooperation. We should have good relations with both sides, but we should not side with the Americans against the Chinese," he added.