皇冠体育app

Chen Weihua

Try putting yourself in 皇冠体育app's shoes

By Chen Weihua (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-24 07:54

The seminar "皇冠体育app in the world" at Columbia University on Thursday brought together a panel of respected 皇冠体育app scholars from the US and Australia. However, as you may have noticed, there was something missing in the conversation.

At least one Chinese panelist from 皇冠体育app at the seminar on Thursday would have made the event more relevant.

The Americans kept talking about the hot issues in 皇冠体育app with US national interests in mind, while the Australians focused on their own concerns. Most talks in the West about 皇冠体育app lack representation from 皇冠体育app, and few seem to care much about what Chinese people want.

This is a big problem with debates on 皇冠体育app today - everyone chooses to be obsessed with their own agenda.

Many in the US like to tell 皇冠体育app what it should do - appreciate its currency, consume more goods and less energy, spend less on the military.

Few Americans pay much attention to what the US should do - save more and cut down on its energy use, which is four times that of 皇冠体育app per capita. As I sat in the heated Columbia Faculty House in just a shirt despite the freezing cold outside, teachers and students in Shanghai, where I am from, have to wear thick down coats in unheated offices and classrooms.

Americans should also consider their own military spending, which is more than the rest of the world combined.

Such focus on self-interest and ignoring voices from 皇冠体育app is probably why many Western debates sound so foreign to Chinese people.

In a live broadcast of the White House welcoming ceremony for President Hu Jintao on Wednesday morning, CNN broadcast Obama's speech without comment. But when Hu spoke, CNN just showed the picture with anchor Christine Romans giving a verdict on 皇冠体育app.

Was that judgment more important than the speech by the head of state representing a quarter of humanity?

Such willful indifference to an important, yet maybe different voice, stems from the deep-rooted arrogance of the US and its "we are right and they are wrong" mindset. That's why talks lecturing 皇冠体育app are never in short supply.

If 皇冠体育app learns just a bit from the West' obsession with lecturing others, or if 皇冠体育app were truly "assertive" or even "aggressive" as some describe, 皇冠体育app would tell the US that it should apologize for the invasion of Iraq by misinforming the world, it should shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and it should tell its citizens to save more.

Maybe 皇冠体育app should continually lecture the US for borrowing money, importing its goods and moving manufacturing jobs to 皇冠体育app.

Americans should stop blaming 皇冠体育app for all its problems and failures.

And I am not done yet. The US should also lift the inhuman embargo on Cuba and stop drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Indeed, the list could go on and on.

What do you really want from us? - a wildly popular poem among Chinese netizens - is a strong backlash to the Western hobby of lecturing 皇冠体育app.

If the West thinks Chinese people are "nationalistic", it should consider whether it is its constant fault finding that pushes people in that direction.

It is natural for 皇冠体育app, a huge country under great transformation, to have problems, many of them serious.

But if people would put themselves in 皇冠体育app's shoes, at least for a moment, they could become part of the solution rather than be part of the problem.

The author is deputy editor of 皇冠体育app Daily US edition. He could be reached at [email protected].