Three children play in a playground accompanied by their parents and grandparent. Photo: VCG

 Western media outlets have recently paid close attention to China's population decline. China announced on Monday that the number of newborns on the Chinese mainland has been dropping for five consecutive years since 2017. A report by New York Times (NYT) on the same day portrayed the decline as "a demographic crisis that could undermine its economy and even its political stability." 

The report also says, "Other wealthy societies are experiencing a similar decline, though most experts agree that China's situation has been complicated by the unintended legacy of the government's 'one child' policy."

Even though China does encounter a declining birth rate, NYT takes a morbid mentality to view and understand all of China's problems. Some Western media outlets, including the NYT, do not view China's problems from the perspective of the problems themselves, but from a predetermined point of view. They tend to take all of China's problems as evidence to verify their preset views, and then predict and judge China's future development based on this biased perspective.

These Western media are looking at China's problems through tinted glasses. Their logic is simple: China is encountering problems, but the Chinese government is incapable of solving these problems. They then conclude that China is heading for a crisis. In their opinion, since "democratic" countries like the US have no solution to such problems, the so-called undemocratic and backward developing countries are less likely to address the issues.

The birth rate in China is indeed declining, but it is not something exclusive to China. The US and European countries also face the problem of declining population. The population crisis generated by the low birth rate is the true reflection of the situation of Western countries, something they are unwilling to admit. Western countries solve their low birth rate crisis by exploiting populations from developing countries and regions. They create a crisis and then incorporate refugees who make up for the declining birth rate domestically.

Some argue that it is normal for a country to see the birth rate fall when it is on the path to becoming a developed one. Such a phenomenon makes people wonder whether a country must become more developed at the cost of a population crisis. In fact, this scenario should not be a normal pattern of development. Governments can formulate various systems and policies to guide the healthy production and reproduction of the population, so that the people can enjoy familial happiness.

The decline in fertility in developed countries is partly due to an overspread of self-indulgence, individualism and consumerism that has made people too concerned with self-centered enjoyment to bear the risks and costs of childbearing.

And to some extent, China's declining birth rate means that some part of our development model needs to be adjusted to create an environment friendly to reproduction. This is where China should make more efforts next. It is believed that China will gradually fix this problem in a way that the US can't.

Western media like NYT now tend to exploit any problems in China to bash and play them down in an almost hysteric way. Since the US has a lot of problems at home, their media should focus inward. They are in no position to criticize China at all.

Such hysteria originates from the fact that the West is now facing political decay due to the problems inherent in capitalism. Therefore, these issues cannot be solved until the capitalist system is changed, which however is unlikely to occur. For Western media like NYT, its criticism of China's problems is a way to shun the US' own problems. In this way, Washington has deeply hypnotized itself and has forgotten reality.

On the other hand, it also explains why some developed Western countries cannot tackle the problem of declining birth rates. Instead, they can only rest on the way, which is called "immigration," but it is a relatively mild way to "plunder" the population from developing countries, to deal with the problem.

China's problems are problems it is bound to face during its development and rise. But what the US is facing is a disastrous consequence. The Chinese government endeavors to solve the problems the NYT targets, and the Chinese government has the ability to solve them. The US looks quiet and good, but it is just transient.

The author is professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn