Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The West, especially the US, is losing the most basic spirit of seeking truth from facts in politics. Western elites' descriptions of China are increasingly deviating from the facts. Their internal political struggles are also breaking through the bottom line. Lying for political purposes is becoming normal. Society has accepted such behavior of politicians, and public opinion elites have cooperated with them, consciously or unconsciously. 

The Chinese and Western political systems are different, as well as in their ways of social organization. But China has promoted economic and social development, and improved people's livelihood. Moreover, China has actively cooperated with the West, and has not engaged in foreign expansion aimed at subverting the Western political system. The fact is China's rapid development has made Western powers, such as the US, feel the pressure. China did not maliciously make such changes. It is an inevitable situation in an unevenly developed world. 

It is especially worth pointing out that China is willing to ease the US' uncomfortable feelings. China opposes the zero-sum mindset on development issues.

Just look at how the US' ruling power and some Western elites have viciously smeared China. They have maliciously attacked the Communist Party of China, a party that leads China's development and maintains a friendly attitude with the world. They describe China as the so-called evil force that sabotages world order, and they have defined normal competition between China and other countries, such as the US, as subversive hostility. They have also put labels on China's technological power and overseas students, regarding them as part of China's intelligence system.

No country's human rights are perfect. The US and China both have problems in human rights. However, China is an effort builder of human rights, and China will never maliciously persecute the rights of a certain minority or political group. It does not conform to China's basic principles. To maintain national order, China has taken necessary measures under its political system. The US also has its measures. The US dislikes some of China's measures, and vice versa.

The US and Western elites' definition of China's maintenance of order is subjective, arrogant and vicious. The definition has detached from China's reality and has become a hegemonic political consumption. By selling its slogans against China, the US has deceived the Western world.

Doesn't this sound bizarre: There is a country that has joined globalization, remained open to the world, economically integrated with the world, and yet its governance has been distorted as seriously violating people's basic rights, and its operations seriously conflicting with the common values of mankind? How much of a sophisticated and malicious design is needed to build an "evil empire" promoted by the US and Western elites? Any society with political rationality will suspect that such a description is absurd. 

Washington is using deceptive ways to kidnap people's judgment. A country with more than 210,000 COVID-19 deaths is cursing a country that has successfully controlled the epidemic. The former claims that its problems were created by the latter. What else, besides a scam, can support such absurd logic?

At a time when COVID-19 is raging in the world, quarrelling on which country should be held accountable hinders the epidemic fight and is anti-scientific. The epidemic has shown that the Chinese government is one of the most responsible governments to people's health. China is also one of the most successful countries in the COVID-19 fight. With this example, the US and Western public opinion can make a thorough check on whether their slander of the Chinese government is realistic.

If the US cannot restore its basic spirit of seeking the truth, then the country is doomed to decline. The US is afraid of facing the facts, and it can only rely on lies to cover up its emerging disadvantages. Such a country cannot carry out effective reforms and will only drift along with its problems. To know shame is akin to courage - this is a well-known truth among Chinese people, and we would like to share it with the US and Western elites.