Sour grapes on display in Pew survey results on China

By Mu Lu Source: Global Times Published: 2020/10/8

A survey by the Pew Research Center that polled 14,276 residents in 14 industrialized countries on four continents found that 73 percent on average see China in an unfavorable light, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Such a result is regrettable, but not surprising. It is the inevitable result of the constantly strengthening inherent prejudice against China under the anti-China narrative of Western public opinion.

Particularly after the outbreak of COVID-19, the US has roped in its Western allies to politicize the pandemic and stigmatize China, in an attempt to whitewash their inability to handle the deadly virus. Many Western political elites and media outlets have attacked China with excuses and deceived the people who do not have a clear knowledge of China with anti-intellectual absurdities. They have repeatedly denigrated the image of China and instigated public sentiment in order to achieve their anti-China political goals.

Take US President Donald Trump. For his reelection campaign, he returned to the White House on Monday with key details about his health unclear, putting the lives of hundreds of aides in danger. But Trump did not feel sorry for the disarray he wrought. Instead, he ramped up the bombast, saying "China is going to pay a big price." The prevalence of this mindset has only led to more people becoming out of touch with reality like frogs living at the bottom of a well. 

The Pew survey said that "a median of 61 percent say China has done a bad job dealing with the outbreak." This is a reflection of how deeply the political elites and media have poisoned people's perceptions. As a matter of fact, China has spared no efforts to contain COVID-19 and showed the utmost sincerity to work with all countries to deal with the unprecedented threat to humanity. The survey reflects how China's goodwill is misinterpreted and maliciously taken advantage of. 

Many Western countries have not focused on figuring out effective measures to contain the virus but rather on blaming China. However, this kind of public opinion manipulation cannot conceal the fact that their ineptitude has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Laura Silver, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center who did the survey, said the survey's international scope was reduced due to the pandemic and it failed to cover many more countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa where the public often offers more upbeat views about China. Nonetheless, this clearly biased poll made headlines in mainstream Western outlets, demonstrating that Washington's absurd logic to hold China accountable has been enhanced and finally blinded Westerners. This is even more regrettable in this era of advanced information technology.

For 53 consecutive days, China has reported no new local cases of COVID-19. Chinese people are proud of this achievement, which allowed them to fully enjoy the National Day holidays from October 1 to Thursday. Over 618 million tourists have spent 454.3 billion yuan ($66.9 billion) in seven days as of Wednesday, while China's cinema box office surpassed 3.6 billion yuan.

In the face of China's eye-catching economic figures, Western society has developed a strong sour-grape mentality, hoping to discredit China by all means. Only China's sufferings make some Westerners feel relieved. However, such self-deception is tantamount to drinking poison to quench one's thirst. The West's unfavorable views of China will not hurt the country's development, while hostility toward China will not help the West get the pandemic under control, either.