Western media don’t want Xinjiang to ride Olympic wave and become a Disney-like resort

 

Tourists play on snow tubes at Oynak ski resort in Moyu County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, January 9, 2022. Located on the southern brim of the Taklimakan Desert, Moyu County barely snows in winter. In order to boost its winter tourism and extend the tourism season, the county built Oynak ski resort by making artificial snow, fueling people's passion for winter sports here. Photo: Xinhua
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For a long time, the coverage of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region by Western media outlets, such as Agence France-Presse (AFP), is a Don Quixote-style farce.
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Xinjiang has time-honored ice and snow culture. Its Altay prefecture is the internationally recognized origin of human skiing activities, which can be traced back 12,000 years. Xinjiang is taking the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as an opportunity to vigorously develop its ice and snow economy, such as promoting tourism, sports and culture.
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But AFP pointed an accusing finger at it. On Wednesday, AFP posted an article entitled, "Beijing sells troubled Xinjiang as a winter sports paradise." It wrote, "Rights advocates worry China is spotlighting minority athletes to whitewash abuses in the region, adding to propaganda efforts to portray Xinjiang as an attractive tourism destination." The article cited Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch as saying, "The Chinese government has promoted tourism to Xinjiang, turning the region into a sort of Disneyland where inhabitants are stripped of their identity and opinion."
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The comments that AFP made are very absurd. In terms of economic development, Xinjiang's boost of its ice and snow economy is a standard green economic development pattern to preserve local inherent ethnic cultural characteristics, and to promote green tourism without environmental pollution. By doing so, Xinjiang can improve the well-being of local people, achieve environmental protection and economic prosperity. What's wrong with that?
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Such remarks raise questions: What kind of life do these Western journalists and the so-called rights advocates want people in Xinjiang to live? Do they hope the local residents stay in a broken economy and an impoverished condition? Or do they simply want Xinjiang to become "independent" and cede from China?
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AFP's rhetoric only demonstrates that some Western media outlets do not hope to see any good and positive change in Xinjiang. What they really care is not Xinjiang nor people of various ethnic backgrounds who live in Xinjiang. Instead, what they actually focus on is how to stir up troubles in China in general and Xinjiang in particular. And now they regard hyping Xinjiang's so-called human rights issues as a "card" to impair China.
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"China should not expect any praise from Western media such as AFP. These media are on the opposite side of China when they report China and the whole world. Take the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union fell apart, has Russia ever received any goodwill from the West?" asked Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. "If China wants to debunk their [Western media's] lies, it needs to continue exploiting various occasions to show the real situation of Xinjiang to the people across the world," Shen noted.
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The West has repeatedly and groundlessly accused China of disrespecting human rights in Xinjiang. The truth is, the Chinese government is constantly seeking opportunities, such as the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, to promote the economic development of Xinjiang and to make great efforts to lead the local people to a happier life. Aren't such moves respecting local people in Xinjiang? Is it rational for AFP to criticize these attempts? Or is the West trying to make Xinjiang fit their Western-centrist stereotype, hoping the region remains impoverished and the ordinary people shiver in the freezing cold, to satisfy the West's condescending sense of superiority?
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Shen asked, "Why on earth are Western media outlets so angry toward China on the Xinjiang-related affairs? The reason is simple: The rapid and enviable development of Xinjiang has made them feel deeply ashamed of their biased judgment and evil motivation." 

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Beijing Winter Olympics 

US' act around the Beijing Winter Olympics is like posing while nude, and that is not art

China has lodged solemn representations and expressed strong opposition to the US' "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, and will take firm countermeasures, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, while Chinese and foreign experts said the US is making itself a joke not only by announcing a boycott of the Games that had not invited US politicians and also by citing lies of "genocide" against China as an excuse to politicize the Olympics in an attempt to create momentum for its upcoming democracy summit.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration will not send any diplomat or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic games, citing "genocide" and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and "other human rights abuses."

The US has been fabricating the biggest lie of the century about so-called "genocide" in China's Xinjiang region, which has been refuted by facts. Based on ideological biases and lies, the US is trying to disturb the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. The US practice gravely violates the principle of political neutrality enshrined in the Olympic Charter, runs counter to the Olympic motto of "together" and stands on the opposite side of global athletes and sports fans, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, told a press conference on Tuesday.

Zhao noted that the Winter Olympics is not the platform for posturing and manipulation. According to Olympic rules, officials are invited by their?respective National Olympic Committee to attend the Olympic Games. Whether the US officials will come to the Beijing Winter Olympics and root for their own athletes is the US' own business.

Despite not even being invited, the US side linked its officials' attendance with the so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang, going down the wrong path further by distorting facts while cheating themselves as well as others. The US political agenda wins no supports and is doomed to fail, Zhao said.

US President Joe Biden and some politicians were hyping a boycott of the Beijing Games. However, the Global Times learned previously from sources that as the host country, China never planned to invite US and Western politicians who hype the "boycott" topic.

No one cares whether US politicians will come or not and it has no impact on the success of the Beijing Games, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the US, tweeted on Tuesday.

The White House announcement on Monday was also mocked in the US and on Twitter. Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN, tweeted that "A diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics is a joke. China doesn't care if Biden and team show up. They want our athletes."

Ben Norton, an assistant editor of the US news website the Grayzone tweeted that "The Biden admin is acting like its diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics in Beijing is a brave move for 'human rights,' but China openly said for weeks that the US was not even invited. This is the political version of a petulant child shouting, 'Well, I didn't wanna go anyway!'"

Adnan Akfirat, president of the Turkish-Chinese Business Development and Friendship Association, who openly opposed the US politicizing the Olympics, described the US decision as "a futile effort" and it is also ridiculous to say that those who haven't already been invited won't attend.

There is a proverb in Turkish. "The rabbit is offended by the mountain!" Akfirat told the Global Times.

In a statement on the US boycott on Monday, the International Olympic Committee said that the presence of government officials and diplomats is a purely political decision for each government, which the IOC in its political neutrality fully respects. At the same time, this announcement also makes clear that the Olympic Games and the participation of the athletes are beyond politics, and we welcome this.

Low-cost try

Since there is no invitation for US politicians to attend the Beijing Games, why it is still keen on hyping the topic? Analysts from China and overseas said that US attempts to use the "cheap shot" to humiliate China, but it only exposes its own malicious moves of politicizing the Olympic spirit.

Tom Fowdy, a British political and international relations analyst, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the Biden administration's announcement is "fueled by obvious opportunism. It is adecision which allows them to whip up anti-China sentiment, but comes with very little sacrifice or cost."

The US is attempting to smear China in a low-cost way since US politicians have realized that if clashes or confrontations are intensified or lead to the military field, the risk may be too great to bear. They chose to "boycott" the Beijing Olympics - a diplomatic stunt to showcase the US presence and "leading role" in values, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

However, such a move is absurd. The unilateral boycott without an invitation in advance is a very cheap political gesture. It is as ridiculous as I say that I will boycott going to Mars," Lü said.

Psaki told the Monday press conference that US athletes will be participating in the Beijing Games and they will be "rooting for the athletes from home."

The US wants to display its "humanity" by saying that athletes would come to the Beijing Games, but it is the US that initiated the hype of a boycott of the Games based on completely fake "genocide" allegations, putting numerous athletes' careers at risk, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

The US' tactic of politicizing the Olympics also hit a new low as it chose to announce the boycott a few days before the so-called democracy summit, Li said, noting that the boycott is like a signal for the US to mobilize as many forces as possible to smear China, to pressure other countries to choose sides and to verify its global influence.

The US is scheduled to hold the Democracy Summit on Thursday and Friday this week, which has been criticized by observers for bringing new confrontations and dividing the world by ideology.

The Democracy Summit, which Biden plans to use as the symbol of the so-called "US is back," has "illogical and pathetic" criteria to divide democratic and non-democratic countries. "If democracy is the rule of the people for the people, the most anti-democratic country is the US," said Akfirat.

Graham Perry, a British solicitor and international arbitrator, told the Global Times that the issue of the US' diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic has to be seen within the bigger issue of the rise of China and the relative decline of the US.

The West likes to portray China as a vicious, oppressive 'dictatorship' but facts show the opposite. For example, China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty and protected more people from COVID-19. So the West "invents" genocide allegations in Xinjiang to damage China, and as China becomes more successful, more lies would be told about China, Perry told the Global Times.

Who would follow?

While Chinese and foreign experts criticize the US for politicizing the Olympics and using the sports event to pressure other countries, they noted that the majority of countries will keep away from such a political move and not follow the US.

When responding to whether the US is trying to get other allies to join the US in the "diplomatic boycott," Psaki told the Monday press conference that "we have informed them of our decision, and obviously we will leave it to them to make their own decisions."

As of press time on Tuesday, no country has announced it would follow the US in boycotting the games. After the US' announcement, media in Canada and Australia reported that their politicians urged their governments to make a similar decision.

Maybe two or three countries will follow the US but no more, Lü said, noting that following the US in making such a decision should take long-term consequences into consideration especially if it will make a difference in the long run, especially for how the Chinese people feel about those countries.

New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said on Tuesday that New Zealand will not be sending diplomatic representatives at a ministerial level to the Beijing Winter Olympics, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason, and added that the decision was made in October.

Wang Dazhao, a Beijing-based senior sports commentator, told the Global Times that the US "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Games has nothing to do with sports but all about politics. The boycott of the 1980 Olympics had left a very bad lesson for the world. The US now is carrying on the Cold War mentality to make another one, which is unpopular since the world has changed.

Wang said the US boycott has no impact on the Beijing Games but showed to the world how it intends to destroy a country's efforts to host a sports event. "The US is taking the initiative to bring destruction and in the future, which country would still be willing to host the Games since their efforts could be easily ruined by politics?"

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PAS’ politics of desperation, lies and deception

 

Are my ears fooling me, or did I hear PAS president Abdul Hadi saying that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition was formed to fight extremist forces in the country?

Did he say that these extremist forces are now operating in Melaka?

The self-righteous Hadi thinks that he can say whatever he wants simply because he comes from the holier than thou religious party, the bridge between heaven and earth.

As they say, it takes a thief to know another thief.

It is well known that Hadi is a racist and religious extremist. His political strategy is based on the principle of divide and rule, not just non-Muslims but also among Muslims.

Hadi thinks by labelling others as extremists, he can emerge as a moderate and respectful leader.

But unfortunately, it is too late in the day for this. He and his party are beyond redemption.

Gone are the respectful days of PAS’ former spiritual leader, the much beloved Tok Guru, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Maybe Hadi, since he knows so much about the extremist forces, should go one step further to name and shame them.

Maybe he should elaborate on the extremist forces that sought to amend the Constitution. What was the amendment about?

It is typical of wishy washy Hadi to say things in general to escape the responsibility of getting into specifics or details.

He fears that once he gets into these details, he might be exposed for his lies and deception.

Can Hadi name the extremist forces operating in Melaka. Is it the much disliked DAP and its allies?

By talking about extremism in Malaysian politics, is Hadi pressing the panic button in anticipation of a possible electoral disaster in Melaka?

Is there a real fear in the ranks of the members of the PN coalition that the Melaka election might be their Waterloo?

Hadi is a very desperate political leader.

If the PN is wiped out in the state election, PAS and Bersatu might not have a national presence to face the next general election (GE15).

Calling others extremists is an indication that all is not well with PAS or its leadership.

Its role in the federal government with ministerial appointments has certainly dented the religious stature of the party.

P Ramasamy is a Penang deputy chief minister.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

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Islam is getting in trouble. Sudan is the first country to ban Islam: See how the world is acting fast on the  threat posed by Islam and its barbaric Sharia Law!

Many Christians in US, Europe who became Muslims are doing Ghar Vapsi

Japan has  always refused Muslims to live permanently in their country and they  cannot own any real estate or any type of business, and have banned any  worship of Islam.Any Muslim tourist caught spreading the word of Islam will be deported immediately, including all family members!

Cuba rejects plans for first mosque!

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In Germany alone, in the last year, there were 81 violent attacks targeting mosques!

Austrian police arrested 13 men suspected jihad recruiters!

A Chinese court sends 22 Muslim Imams to jail for 16 to 20 years for spreading Islamic hatred & have executed 18 Jihadis; China campaigns against Separatism (disallowing  Islamist to have  their own separate state).Muslim prayers banned in govt  buildings & schools in Xinjiang (Western China). Hundreds of Muslim families prepared to leave China for their own safety & return back to their own Middle Eastern countries!

Muslim refugees  beginning to realize that they are not welcome in Christian countries because of their violent ways & the continuing wars in Syria & Iraq whipped up by the hideous IS who are murdering young children & using  mothers & daughters as sex slaves!

British Home Secretary  prepares to introduce 'Anti-Social Behaviour Order' for extremists & strip dual nationals of their Citizenship. Deportation laws also being prepared!

The Czech Republic blatantly refuses Islam in their country, regarding it as evil!

Many US states- A new controversial amendment that will ban the recognition of "foreign laws which would  include Sharia law"!

The Polish Defense League issues a warning  to Muslims. 16 States have all Introduced Legislation to Ban Sharia Law!

Many Muslims in Northern Ireland have announced  plans to leave the country to avoid anti-Islamic violence by Irish locals. The announcement comes after an attack on groups of Muslims in the city of Belfast, Groups of Irish locals went berserk & bashed  teenage Muslim gangs who were referring to young Irish girls as sluts  & all should be gang raped, as per ''Sharia  Law''.

Even hospital staff were reluctant to treat the battered Muslim Patients, the majority were given the Band-Aid treatment & sent home with staff muttering ''Good Riddance''!

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The US has found the world order quickly shifting and is feeling uneasy with the challenge from China.

Beautiful diversity: Today, there are 25 million Muslims living in China. Here, Muslim devotees are praying at the Nanxiapo Mosque in Beijing to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri. — The Star

 

 THE legend of Admiral Zheng He (more commonly known as Cheng Ho to most Malaysians) has always fascinated me, being a history student with Peranakan roots in Penang.

In fact, I took the opportunity to travel to Nanjing, China, to pay respects to the great man at his tombstone.

The only snag was, Zheng He’s resting place remains a mystery, he who led historic voyages to South-East Asia and eastern Africa.

His remains have never been found, leading many to believe he received his final rites at sea during his last voyage, sometime in 1433.

But Zheng He is not a Uighur (pronounced as wee ger). He was from the Hui ethnic group, which comprises Muslims.

The history of Islam in China goes back more than a staggering 1,300 years.

While Zheng He is probably one of the most famous Muslims, there were others during the Ming rule, Muslim military generals including Mu Ying, Hu Dahai, Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and Ding Dexing.

There was also the famous Confucian Muslim scholar, Ma Zhu, who served during the Ming dynasty. The name Ma is the Chinese counterpart to Muhammad.

Today, there are 25 million Muslims living in China. The Hui is the largest group (48%), followed by the Uighur (41%), and together, they make up about 90% of the total Muslim population. The other Muslims include Kazakh (6,1%) and Dongxiang (2.5%), followed by the Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Salar, Tajik, Bonan and Tatar groups. They live mostly in Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Yunnan, and even in Beijing and Xian.

My trips to China have taken me to Xinjiang by air, road and train, where I spent weeks meeting these beautiful ethnic minorities.

I travelled on the Silk Road and tried imagining how ancient traders treaded the same path. Famed Italian merchant, Marco Polo, probably used the same route in the 13th Century to look for spices, silk and carpets.

My journey took me across the Taklamakan desert on long overnight trains to Turpan (or the Flaming Mountains), the setting of the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West, of the Monkey God fame.

The trip concluded in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of China.

Urumqi was a major hub on the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty’s golden age, and today, it has one of the world’s largest bazaars.

Walking through the markets reminded me of the souq in the Middle East, being surrounded by the blue-eyed Uighur and their distinct Turkish looks, while blonde Russians, all speaking Mandarin, were among the other Chinese. It was an exotic place, indeed.

As a “banana” (a term describing a Western-educated Chinese with Western world views, and can’t speak Mandarin), I was lucky to have scholars from Universiti Malaya explain the historical and academic aspects of China.

I have also travelled to Xian, where China’s ancient capital, Chang’an, is located. It was home to more than 10 dynasties.

It was a delight for me to step into the mosques and immerse in local Muslim culture. Islam has long been part of Xian history, where the terracotta soldiers stand guard.

But today, Xinjiang is in the international news for all the wrong reasons. Damaging words, including genocide, have been hurled at it. The grim and gruesome word means killing many people from an ethnic group with the aim of wiping it out.

There is little evidence, if none at all, to prove genocide, but it’s such a strong emotive word that it recalls the Holocaust and Khmer Rouge killing fields in Cambodia.

The Xinjiang cotton fields are alleged to have practised forced labour, even though it’s common knowledge that machines are required for large scale productions. There have also been accusations of rape.

Nothing is spared in the mind games between the two superpowers (US and China) to discredit each other.

Reports on the issue have come thick and fast from CNN and BBC, almost on a daily basis, in fact.

It’s hard to ignore that since the protests in Hong Kong began, they have become more involved in instigative journalism than investigative journalism.

Since the racist campaign by Donald Trump, where China was blamed for the spread of the coronavirus, Americans and many ill-informed Westerners have looked at ethnic Asians – especially those with Chinese features – negatively.

They have lumped all Orientals together as Chinese, just like how some think turbaned Sikhs with beards must be Taliban.

Now, under the Biden Administration, there is little difference, except perhaps Joe is less antagonistic, though the anti-China sentiments remain.

From the coronavirus to Huawei, and Tik Tok through to purported spy scholars and the South China Sea, and now Xinjiang cotton, it has become a concerted campaign.

We all know the US has little love for Muslims anywhere in the world.

The US has dropped enough bombs in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, as well as imposed sanctions against Iran, to substantiate that claim. The US has also turned a blind eye to the plight of the Palestinians.

These assaults were launched on the pretext of destroying weapons of mass destruction owned by the Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi regimes, though we now know fact from fiction.

While the two weren’t angels (but more dictators), the fanatical Islamic State took over after the two were deposed and worsened the situation.

Now, the attention is China. It’s the perfect villain – communist rule, no elections and a campaign against Muslims in Xinjiang.

Most Americans can neither pronounce Xinjiang nor point it out on a map, although that seems a moot point to them.

The truth is, the US is jittery because its dominance is over. The world order has changed.

While the US was busy executing its campaign in the name of upholding human rights and western values, and burning trillions of dollars on arsenal, the Chinese spent the last decades building their nation and eradicating poverty.

No one should be surprised when China overtakes the US in the world economy. It didn’t happen overnight, though.

Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou may not be representative of the whole of China, especially compared to third-tier cities and rural areas, but credit where it’s due for the absence of homeless colonies in the cities.

As a Malaysian who has regularly visited China, I feel poor whenever I’m there. The glitzy skyscrapers, efficient transport system, low crime rate, affluence and orderly city administration has shown that China has certainly arrived.

The Chinese have become visibly wealthier and sophisticated, and while their tendency to flaunt their wealth rubs many the wrong way, they have simply become what the early rich Americans used to be. The rich Chinese are loud and brash, but along the way, they – just like the Americans did then – will change.

Rather than demonise China and its people, the US could do well with promoting its values, many of which are universal in nature, such as the rule of law, protecting individual rights, improving living standards and driving the engine of innovation.

The US remains the preferred destination for most people seeking migration.

The immigrants, including Muslims who refused to integrate, could have chosen Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait or Senegal, but they picked the US.

We embrace American culture and its lifestyle, especially Hollywood movies, Disneyland, burgers, Coca- Cola and music. That speaks volumes of how most of us admire the US.

While the Chinese are now at a stage where they are content with growth and material wealth, they will eventually question issues like environment, inequality and self-suffrage, when they find themselves without a safety net.

The expansion of the middle class has always been similar all over the world. When the stomach and pockets are full, people have time to talk about democratic ideals.

But for now, the chaos and destruction in Hong Kong and racism in the US have given reason for China, and Chinese all over the world, to push back, or even detest the aggressive campaign by the US. This is nothing more than blatant bullying.

It isn’t fair play, unlike what the US claims, because there’s clearly a lack of respect for competition.

We all believe “democracy is the worst system of government, except for everything else, ” as Winston Churchill said. It’s loud and messy, as we know, but power is more diffused in democracy, where it’s equally shared through the population, as James Stavridis, a retired US Navy admiral put it.

The Xinjiang campaign will come back to haunt the US. Unlike other Muslims in China, the Uighur have indulged in ISIS activities, including being actively involved in Syria, where many combatants are members of an Al Qaeda offshoot.

Reuters and Associated Press have reported of at least 5,000 Uighur in ISIS operating in Syria and Iraq.

Many of them from the outlawed Turkistan Islamic Party, are pushing for an Islamic state in Xinjiang, which China surely won’t tolerate.

That perhaps explains why China takes a different approach to the Uighur compared to other Muslims, though these actions remain open to debate.

But here’s the irony – while the US and its western allies are busy drumming up the issue, the powerful Muslim countries led by Saudi Arabia, along with 36 other countries, have defended China’s policies in Xinjiang in a letter released in 2019.

The world is not keen on getting entangled in an escalating trade war between the US and China.

We want both countries to work together, if they really believe and practise what they preach to the rest of us, the minion nations. And if they do, the world stands to benefit immeasurably.

 Wong Chun Wai

Wong Chun Wai began his career as a journalist in Penang, and has served The Star for over 35 years in various capacities and roles. He is now group editorial and corporate affairs adviser to the group, after having served as group managing director/chief executive officer. On The Beat made its debut on Feb 23 1997 and Chun Wai has penned the column weekly without a break, except for the occasional press holiday when the paper was not published. In May 2011, a compilation of selected articles of On The Beat was published as a book and launched in conjunction with his 50th birthday. Chun Wai also comments on current issues in The Star.

• https://twitter.com/chunwai09
• http://www.wongchunwai.com/

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It takes all kinds to dominate in a world obsessed with economic might and political power.

AS a young boy growing up in the 1960s, I watched many Western movies and TV shows about cowboys and Red Indians, and as expected of a naïve and ignorant kid, I cheered for the “good” guys – the cowboys.

And because they were portrayed as such, the Red Indians were the “bad” guys to me. They were the savage lot, while the Caucasian men were the civilised group trying to help them. And routinely, the Red Indians would be defeated.

As I reached my teenage years and read more about the West, I realised that my supposed heroes were the ones who robbed these natives of their land, violated treaties and consigned the Red Indians to living on reservations.

The most famous Red Indian, Geronimo, the head of the Chiricahua Apaches, and his men were arrested and despatched to Florida as prisoners of war. Some of them were even discarded at crocodile-infested swamps.

Fast forward to contemporary Hollywood movies – the modern-day bad guys are always the Russians, Albanians and Arabs.

They are usually portrayed as one of brutal spies, criminals, human traffickers, drug dealers and terrorists, and in more lurid plots, all the above.

In The Equalizer, Denzel Washington, who plays a former intelligence agency man latterly driving a cab, goes after sadistic Russian gangsters and predictably, decides to kill all of them – in equally brutal ways.

In the John Wick movie series, Keanu Reeves also goes ballistic going after some Russians.

For some reason, all these ex-operatives are reclusive, divorced or widowed, still connected to their agencies, and as always, their loved ones get harmed (mostly killed) by the Russians, which invariably leads them to needing to settle the score.

Albanians hit the big time after the 2008 movie, Taken, which starred Liam Neeson, who plays Bryan Mills, another retired CIA operative whose teenage daughter and friend get kidnapped by human traffickers (Albanians) while holidaying in France.

In Taken 2, the 2012 sequel, the film follows the family to Istanbul, only to be kidnapped yet again, along with his former wife, by the father of one of the men he killed while saving his daughter two years previously.

It wasn’t just the Albanians who suffered from bad press as until today, my wife still refuses to go to Istanbul – as a result of the movie.

Fortunately for me, I have been to Albania. It’s a beautiful country with good people, and nothing like what the movies depict.

In the case of Arabs, we are accustomed to seeing them portrayed in poor light. They were womanising oil sheikhs at one time and are now mostly barbaric terrorists. Scenes with them are stereotypically sound tracked to the call of the Azan.

Mexicans, typically, are drug dealers. Likewise, Colombians, Cubans and Venezuelans. Well, in the movies, at least.

The hip hop loving African Americans in the United States, with their bling and bad attitude, are a dangerous lot. And thanks to their racist slurs, smaller Asians like us avoid antagonising them.

The latest bad guys are the Chinese. However, Hollywood isn’t quite ready to cast them as the standard stereotype because they are explicitly aware of mainlanders having plenty of clout.

Experts predict that by 2020, China will be the world’s largest cinema market, with box office revenue expected to leap from US$9.9 billion (RM41bil) in 2018 to US$15.5 billion (RM65bil) by 2023, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In the first quarter of 2018, China surpassed the US in box office revenue for the first time.

It has been reported that China is presently Hollywood’s biggest foreign market, and according to projections by PwC, this year, the Chinese box office will likely rake in US$11.05 billion (RM46bil) compared to ticket sales in the US, which is expected to amount to US$2.11 billion (RM8.8bil).

So, unlike with other nationalities, Hollywood won’t mess around with the Chinese anytime soon.

Failed Hollywood movies, like The Terminator: Dark Fate, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, were rescued by the box offices in China.

Hollywood understands the power of money well. In fact, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight wasn’t even submitted for Chinese approval because of a dubious Chinese businessman character in the 2008 Batman movie. But in the Western media, whether in the US, Europe or Australia, China is being painted negatively, in a blatantly concerted way.

Everything from Huawei, to face recognition and to Xinjiang, and now Coronavirus, China has been the bogeyman.

The elephant-in-the-room theory is that the US wants a “freed Tibet” because it’s angling to build an air base that can send jets into China within minutes.

Adding to the spin doctoring, rioters and vandals in Hong Kong are relentlessly referred to as pro-democracy protestors to burn in the minds of the audience that they are the good guys.

HK policemen are painted as brutal when, ironically, tougher tactics are applied elsewhere, including by the American police.

The US is disturbed by the South China Sea, although it’s thousands of miles away and isn’t even a claimant. It’s strange when you think it has military bases in the Philippines and the vicinity.

The disdain for China even turned comical at some point. When a group of Vietnamese were found dead in a UK truck last year, newsfeeds initially revealed they were Chinese.

As the media scrambled for answers, one reporter, who was pressed for an answer, told his live audience that they could possibly be Chinese who fled to the UK because of their protests over the Xinjiang issue.

The underlining reason is simple – the Western media no longer wants to report about China in a balanced way, resenting its growth to become an economic power in just 30 years as it sits behind the US as the second largest economy in the world.

The narrative is the same: China should be feared and doubted, while Chinese scholars in the US ought to be treated as spies. And advanced technology better than that in American products be branded spying devices.

Hostility towards China has intensified and with the outbreak of Covid-19, there is no silver lining, what with spins of resenting Chinese president Xi Jinping, concealing figures of casualties, cover up, poor food preparation and filthy eating habits. And there’s also the racist perception that Chinese people are to be avoided and cooked up stories of uprising against Xi Jinping.

Of course, there’s also the twisted religious angle – that the Chinese are being punished, either for their eating habits, or again, the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang.

The war against China is being waged in various fronts because it is deemed to have threatened the international order dominated by the US and its allies.

It doesn’t matter if the US is led by Donald Trump or a Democrat president, which could be worse, because the end game against China will simply be the same.

The Coronavirus epidemic has damaged the image of the Chinese. Their invincibility and ascent have taken a knock, so Xi Jinping must prove that China can beat this killer virus soon.

It’s a bad time for China nationals still travelling, but then again, even ethnic Chinese elsewhere are affected.

The average American believes everything they watch on CNN or Fox TV. No one should be surprised since only 45% of Americans – or 41.8 million – have been overseas. That’s an improvement, being 9% more than in 2018.

There is a far bigger picture here, one rooted in the concept of master and servant.

Not too long ago, China was a far-away mysterious country where cheap toys, low grade garments and fireworks came from. In the last couple of decades, the most populous country learnt technology well from the west, like how Japan did in the 1980s.

Today, the republic is on the cusp of achieving world domination. And that’s not a point lost on any superior or inferior nation.

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