Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

British right-wing political commentator Douglas Murray has recently demonstrated how arrogant and ignorant some Westerners are toward China by showing his Neo-imperialist racism that demands immediate denouncements. 

Murray believes "it is not racist to talk of a 'Chinese virus' or to avoid Chinatown." On Saturday, in the Spectator, he wrote an article titled, "The case for Chinese reparations," in which he argued to hold China accountable for "the largest fall in output" that the UK "has seen in over 300 years." 

"I am open to suggestions on how we do this: sanctions, gunboats - nothing should be off the table… We need to make them pay for it," Murray wrote.

Yes, you read it right. He said "gunboats."

Let's put aside for now whether or not the gunboats as a representation of the UK's glorious past still have the backbone to withstand today's tides and waves to complete a successful mission of the gunboat diplomacy. The current rickety Royal Navy has repeated problems in training and equipment. Does any rational military mind think this rust bucket fleet can threat China militarily? Where does Murray get the confidence that the UK can militarily force China to do anything whatsoever?

The third decade of the 21st century is really just beginning. Yet there are still people who make such ridiculous threats. People like Murray who refuse to take a good look at the world have lingered too long in their dreams of the British Empire. Or perhaps they don't even want to wake up so as to keep their pathetic sense of superiority. 

In the eyes of arrogant Westerners, they have taken power for granted. They like to bleat that China doesn't "seem to play by the same rules." Correct: China will not be bullied as vassal state by Western lords. Is that what they mean by "not playing by the rules"?

The world has changed. But they can't admit and accept it. Nor can they adjust based on these changes. Instead, the West still holds tight to the dream of dominating the world. This is why the West is rolling downhill faster than you can say obese empires. 

After reading Murray's ham-fisted and hare-brained rant against China, people will notice he did not spend an ounce of humanity for those whose lives have been damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The article is entirely about money. However emphatic the article appears to be, it is no more than an attempt to steal the spotlight and fruitlessly cover up the West's failures to respond to the pandemic. 

Murray, while blaming China, wrote, "Everywhere the world's economies are experiencing an unprecedented slump in GDP and a rocketing of government borrowing."

This is nonsense. 

But it actually reveals that many Westerners are venting their anger as a malicious hope for China's collapse. They are taking no culpability for their own failures. Meanwhile, they can't reverse the West from going downhill. 

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it sure fell hard and fast when it did, didn't it? The accumulated problems in the capitalist countries were exposed by the pandemic. Western elites were clearly not prepared for it, but they have no one but themselves to blame. 

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s latest report released on Tuesday, the world economy is expected to contract 4.2 percent this year. By the contrast, the OECD sees China recording economic growth of 1.8 percent as the only major economy expected to record economic growth in 2020. This is the result of China's arduous fight against COVID-19 at the great expense of Chinese people's sacrifice. Despite the stigmatization of the West, China didn't give up its efforts to battle the virus. 

But to arrogant Westerners like Murray, this is evidence of China's "vengeance" and alleged "deliberate" plan. As the US and the UK have respectively registered over 281,000 and 61,000 COVID-19 deaths, they still haven't prompted introspection. 

Did China make the governments of the US, the UK, and other Western countries incompetent in their COVID-19 prevention responses? Did China ever try to convince Westerners that COVID-19 is a harmless little flu not to be worried about? Did China block those countries from taking successful measures and try to meddle with their internal affairs?

The answers are simply "No." 

As a matter of fact, before the outbreak of the epidemic, China's GDP in 2019 ($14.3 trillion) was already five times larger than that of the UK, which was about $2.8 trillion. Prevailing ignorant opinions about China reflect that the West dares not directly deal with the crux of its own problems. The decline of the West's influence is arguably factual. Blaming others won't bail them out from their own odious blunders. 

The author is a commentator with the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn