Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

In regard to the "China threat theory," the logic of some Western politicians is becoming increasingly absurd. They seem to be exerting huge efforts to attack something that does not even exist. A recent example is the UK's hype about Chinese "overseas police service stations."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said the British police visited each of the locations identified as the so-called Chinese overseas police stations, and confirmed that there is no evidence of illegal activity on behalf of the Chinese state across these sites. Still, he urged parliament to quickly pass the National Security Bill to clamp down on foreign interference and transnational repression. 

When Western media covers the story, they bypass the "no evidence" part of the statement. "Chinese 'police stations' in UK are 'unacceptable', says security minister,' reads a Sky News headline. It appears that in some Western countries, creating an anti-China sensation is more important than the truth.

On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reiterated there are absolutely no overseas Chinese secret police stations and that such hype is nothing more than political lies, and purely political manipulation.

Wang has already clarified about this multiple times. On May 15, Wang explained that relevant institutions helped overseas Chinese who could not return to China due to the pandemic to renew their driving license and perform physical examination. They aren't police stations or police service centers at all. 

Still, the West is busy repeating its own narrative to take the public opinion under its tight grip. The similar fake stories about so-called Chinese overseas police service stations have been pushed in the US, Canada and some other European countries. This time, UK's tone is similar- with no credible source or evidence, they can pin the blame on China anyway, just with a few "maybe" or "alleged" accusations. 

This is US' strong suit, and its closest allies are following closely behind. Observers said that the US has developed a tactic - repeating its fabricated lies about its opponents often enough to spread panic in the public, cultivating widespread hatred and distrust toward China, until the lies are treated as truth.

The goal is to create contradictions with China. While such hype seemingly targets the Chinese authorities, it is affecting Chinese people in reality. The US-led West is ganging up to stir up a clash of civilizations through lies, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times. 

In Tugendhat's statement, the only source about Chinese "overseas police service stations" is the Spanish-based so-called human rights NGO, Safeguard Defenders. Its founder, Peter Dahlin, was previously expelled from China for engaging in illegal unregistered activities. And the NGO's previous incarnation, the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, received funds from the National Endowment for Democracy, an organization set up to fund groups conducive to Washington's regime change priorities. 

It means British politicians are citing US-linked institutions that help hatch color revolutions overseas to coordinate US global hegemony, Song said. 

And countries like the UK and Canada, which are following the US every step of the way in pushing camp confrontation, have to a large extent lost their capability of rational thinking. 

Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, believes the UK has its own calculation by hyping Chinese "overseas police service stations." For instance, it has the motive to shift British people's focus away from the country's chaotic domestic politics and economic affairs. And as the UK also pursues greater role in the Western world, its China policy is becoming more and more opportunistic and hazardous. 

Be it the UK or Canada, they could have pursued a flexible diplomacy and not necessarily taken clear-cut sides. However, when it comes to China policy, they have confined themselves to a single-choice question, thus losing the ability to think about their own best interests. 

Experts say that some Western countries have overestimated their own importance, including in China-US competition. The China-US relationship follows its own developmental pattern. Countries that eagerly align with the US now may end up offending China and gaining little benefit from the US. More importantly, countries that have forfeited their own independent judgment will earn little respect from major powers.

The world is undergoing tremendous changes. The US and the West can no longer represent the mainstream of the international community. They only represent little declining club, making up their own rules and trying to impose them on the whole world. On the path of hyping the "China threat theory," they will, sooner or later, find themselves driving on the wrong side of the road yet are foolishly calling on surrounding vehicles to change direction.