The Olympic flame for Beijing 2022 Winter Games on display during a welcoming ceremony held at the Olympic Tower in Beijing, China on Oct. 20, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)
The ideological conflicts between China and the West will escalate before the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 as anti-Chinese forces will converge to make trouble for China. This event will not only be a comprehensive stress test for China’s ability to respond to various crises, but also a catalyst for China’s growth in mentality as a major power.
The US and other countries in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance have revealed that they may implement a “diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing Winter Olympics. China would lose if it cares about this strategy as there must be more diplomatic bickering between China and the West and fewer events participated by both sides. If the West doesn’t care about the situation, why should China care about their noises since it has chosen its own path? Is it still necessary to create opportunities with them to show a superficial harmony as the West is obviously unfriendly to China?
China used to care about maintaining a harmonious atmosphere with the West and the way being regarded by the rest of the world, particularly by the West. This needs to be changed. With the rise of China as a major power and the weakened hegemony of the US, Western superiority has been shaken, creating a strong and unprecedented resistance to China. As the West no longer “likes” China, the psychological scenario of the engagement between China and the West has fundamentally changed.
The only important thing for China in the future is to stick to its own path. The elites of the US and other Western countries do not matter much whether they are envious, jealous, hateful, fearful or angry. It’s not worthy for China to spend energy and resources to care about their emotions and attitudes and even attempt to reverse their negative thoughts toward China.
Sport events like the Winter Olympics are a grand party. China is the host this time. But how the Games will turn out is not just a matter for China. As Western countries want to destroy the Olympics which represents noble spirits, China should make it clear and let the Western countries go rather than serving as the moral police. Their consideration of creating a blow to China with a “diplomatic boycott” is also another vain attempt of the Five Eyes alliance.
The mutual respect between China and the US and between China and the West is not like what China traditionally understands, but will only be based on strength. As China becomes more and more economically powerful, the US and the West will criticize China while asking for economic cooperation. Within themselves, the US and the West will debate which comes first – values or economic interests. They are hooked by their own lies, and play double-face without dignity.
We need to grow strong in national defense so that the US and its main allies will treat China with awe. Once they are impulsive to counter China, they can only use rhetoric but dare not take real action. As time goes by, they will eventually accept peaceful coexistence with China.
The Beijing Winter Olympics will be held against the backdrop of the severe ideological clash between China and the US-led West. The reason for the worsening conflict is the clash of interests between China and the US as well as their deep divergences in principles of international relations. If the US wants to lead its allies in using the Beijing Winter Olympics as a stage to showcase such divergences, China needs only to morally expose their attempts and oppose them, while completely disregarding their superficial attacks toward China, as China no longer anticipates that the US and its allies would cooperate with China in such international events. As a result, we will make most of the ideological tools of the West useless.
If we manage to do this and reset the attitude of Chinese society toward how the West views us, the Beijing Olympics will not only be China’s contribution to the Olympic Games during the pandemic, but also a rite of passage of China as a mature major power.
Global Times
