China bashing by the governments and elites of the Western world has never been so strong.

The country has been condemned for years as a cruel communist state, with no hope of advancing while it stuck to the centralised state socialist system.

Now that China has embraced many of the features of capitalism and there are millions of capitalists in the country, it is hated by the West for being capitalist! It is too competitive with them!

China was once "closed" to the rest of the world, which lectured it about the wonders of "free trade" and globalisation. With China now becoming a free trader and building up its business connections around the world, it has become a menace.

It is accused of "flooding" high-quality goods and services into "traditional" Western markets and stealing their dominance.

Within the Western countries, Chinese-made household goods of all types are helping to keep the living standards of their people up a bit in these bad times, and contributing to the political stability there.

But, oh no, this is "destroying us" and throwing the current account china finance 200404 deficit into free fall. It is largely Chinese money that has kept the US government afloat post-GFC, but all the Chinese government bond-buying is described as "responsible for our massive national debt".

Chinese technology and science are advancing rapidly, but does the West acknowledge this as something that will benefit all mankind in the years ahead? They are not sure really. Are their research methodologies as rigorous as that in the developed nations?

Human rights and military affairs in China all swirl in double standards when it comes to comparisons with the West. In the 19 th century, China was broken apart by foreign invaders and internal crises. Eight countries - the UK, US, Russia, France, Austria, Italy, Germany and Japan - invaded China, looting, burning and killing along the way.

China was defeated and humiliated. The image of the "sick man of Asia" is very well known. This state of affairs persisted well into the 20 th century. But then, when China started to get its act together and put all pieces back together, a great hullabaloo arose in the West about "independence rights" for some of the once-shattered bits.

Much hysteria about human rights in China

On the overall topic of human rights in China, there is much hysteria in the Western world and its media. For so long the West has portrayed China as a nation overwhelmed by chaos, even though this often resulted from foreign invasions.

Now that some social and economic stability has come to China and it is being generally of benefit to most people, there is a loud screech in the West about "human rights violations in China".

No one would say that China has no problems in human rights, that NONE everybody is entitled to the same treatment legally and has much the same share of national wealth. There are many wrongs and inequities, everyone knows, and a long way to go.

But again, attention must also be given to the double standards of the Western governments. They have the "rule of law" and most have parliamentary democracies - but money, positions held, connections, ethnic background and social class are all big factors in determining whether everyone has equal rights in society.

Things are hardly lily white in all the Western societies and the roles of many of the Western countries throughout the rest of the world are far from honourable. As an old saying goes, "everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others".

There is a long list of wars, coups, massacres and torture practices across Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa that have been engineered or directly supported by the West (often through military operations) over the past decades.

There are recently released accounts of the extent to which some of the Western military forces directly carried out the torture of local peoples in the Iraq and current Afghanistan wars.

The West's human rights record not rosy either

The West's human rights record is not very rosy. It might be best if the West first spends some time to sort out its own way of operating in the world and puts its lecturing of China aside until this task is completed.

There is, in the minds of the Western elites, a lingering resentment that they are no longer "running the world" as in the past few centuries. They see once colonised or dominated countries becoming stronger, and of course they don't like it. There is some rethinking to do.

There is also an emerging phobia in the West about Chinese military china celebrates 60th birthday anniversary power. If we don't siphon more and more billions away from our people's social needs and put it into our militaries, China will takeover our world. This is what the military elites tell their people in the West. The double standard again applies.

The US is at present fighting large-scale wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It dominates Nato and has "defence pacts" of various kinds covering big parts of the Middle East, the South Pacific, Northeast Asia (South Korea and Japan), Africa, the Caribbean and South America.

The Base Structure Report (2,003) and the Active Duty Military Strengths by Regional Areas and Countries (2003), both official documents of the US Defence Department, provide some startling figures. They are not quite current but it is doubtful that any of the figures have reduced in size.

The reports reveal that the US has about 1,000 defence bases in 192 countries around the world. There are some 1.4 million US troops in all, with 252,764 of them based overseas. The US Navy sails the oceans with 278 warships, with a tonnage greater than that of the next 13 navies of the world combined. There is also the US Air Force, with 3,700 warplanes.

The only line in the sand China draws is about protecting its own territorial integrity. For those who have spent a century moving into other people's territories, it is time for a rethink.

Staying calm amid insults from abroad

The Chinese are pretty good at taking it on the chin and staying calm amid insults from abroad. There is no need to make too much of a fuss, they say. They will be patient in their wait for the West to change its outlook on the world.

It is hoped the Australian government will continue to build a genuine friendship with China and its people. The recent Wikileaks release of cables revealed Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd's attempts to ingratiate himself with the US Secretary of State by providing his smart alec "advice"' on "being ready to apply force to China if needed".

This was just too much. The day has long arrived when Australia cannot go on being a puppy dog of the US (Malcolm Fraser, Australian prime minister, 1975-1983, in ABC TV Q & A, Aug 30, 2010).

The Australian public want a much more grown-up manner of building relations with other countries than that which came out from their foreign minister's "special briefing" for Hillary Clinton last year. It is difficult to see how Rudd can remain in his position any longer.

For the Chinese community in Australia, the job remains to carry on further developing links and good relationships between the Australian and Chinese peoples.

 

RICHARD WONG is a freelance writer based in Melbourne, Australia. He contributes to Malaysiakini from time to time, and is also Features Editor with Chinese Professional & Business Association Newsletter in the state of Victoria, Australia.