Western Campaigns Against China: Deliberate Defamation or Fear of an Alternative?

Since China began its quiet rise in the late twentieth century and rebuilt itself outside the Western umbrella, it has become clear that this country, rooted in deep civilization, is following a different path than the mainstream. It did not rise under the banner of liberal democracy nor adopt Western globalization slogans, but rather crafted its own experience with Eastern characteristics, collective traditions, and a strategy based on work, discipline, and long patience.

However, this success was not welcomed in Western capitals. While China was building, investing, and economically connecting the world, decision-making centers in Washington, London, and Brussels gradually viewed this progress with suspicion, and the narrative around China's rise in Western discourse transformed from a danger to a threat and ultimately became daily fodder for political and media campaigns portraying China as the greatest danger to the global system.

Descriptive labels began to be piled onto China's image in Western media: repressive, authoritarian, expansionist, unethical, disrespectful of human values. This description was not a result of actual practices as much as a product of an organized campaign aimed at distorting a potential alternative before it gained legitimacy among people.

What is surprising is that the majority of these accusations are not directed at China for having encroached upon anyone but rather for choosing an independent path that does not submit to Western hegemony. China has not occupied an Arab country, nor has it overthrown a regime by force, nor imposed a specific lifestyle or constitution upon peoples. All it did was launch the "Belt and Road Initiative," which connected over a hundred countries with shared developmental interests, providing loans, ports, roads, and technology without political conditions or internal interventions.

In Africa, China built hospitals, airports, and mosques, with the largest mosque in Algeria constructed by them. In the Middle East, it signed agreements in energy, technology, and infrastructure. In Central Asia, it contributed to education and regional communication, all without firing a shot or imposing "democratic reforms" conditional upon the victory of their compliant man, as the West does. This is precisely why it is considered a threat.

In the eyes of most Global South countries, China is not viewed as a colonial or moral tutelage power but rather as a practical partner that respects sovereignty and seeks mutual benefit. This is why it has found a wide place in the Arab and Islamic world, in Africa, and in Latin America, where Western powers have failed to build relationships based on mutual respect.

Despite all of this, the Western media machine continued to focus on one issue: the Uyghurs. A dark picture was painted of oppression while these campaigns ignored that China is home to over 56 nationalities and that its policies are directed against separatism and terrorism, not against Islam or Muslims. Nobody mentioned that countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran engage with China without existential concern, but with mutual openness and active cultural and economic exchange.

Most importantly, China has not hesitated to open its doors to neutral international committees at a time when Beijing insists that the West supports separatist forces in Hong Kong and Taiwan and incites instability from within, in stark contrast to its official recognition that these regions are part of China.

The Western media also ignored that China has been one of the most vocal defenders of the Palestinian cause in international forums, and that it did not participate in financing or protecting the wars that devastated Iraq, torn Libya apart, or reduced Syria to rubble. Rather, China has supported – and continues to support – liberation movements in the Global South, while the West has led modern colonial campaigns to control natural resources and land, sea, and air corridors in the Middle East.

In contrast, no one in the West asked themselves: What is our position on the persecution of Muslims in Burma and India? What is our response to the genocide in Gaza? What about the secret prisons, global surveillance, and the economic sanctions ravaging civilian lives? Why is this not highlighted? Because the aim has never been to defend human rights but to prevent the rise of a project that does not pass through Washington.

Even though China is a country with a strict centralized system and imposes security restrictions to protect itself from foreign espionage and sabotage, it does not practice the political hypocrisy to which the West is accustomed. It does not speak of freedom while supporting coups, does not promote democracy while supporting oppressive regimes, nor does it protect them and plunder their resources, nor does it impose ready-made models on countries, nor does it blackmail them economically, while shedding crocodile tears over human rights while besieging peoples and supporting genocide in Palestine.

What China is facing today is not legitimate objective criticism but rather a systematic and ongoing campaign aimed primarily at preventing the birth of an alternative global model—one that does not speak in the language of superiority, nor monopolize morality, nor present itself as the world's savior. A model that regards cooperation over hegemony, construction over occupation, mutual benefit over exploitation, and shared destiny over racial superiority.

Yes, China is not a country without faults, but it has not aggressed against anyone, has not crushed peoples, nor has it stolen the wealth of others. It is a rising power that aspires to play a global role and seeks to do so through production, not war; through trade, not coups; and through dialogue, not threats. Its primary concern is to move its people toward a better life.

At a time when power balances are shifting and old myths are collapsing, perhaps it is time to reconsider: what we see today as the "demonization of China" may only be a veil concealing a real fear... the West's fear of losing its monopoly on the narrative, on power, on truth, and losing its ability to enslave people and plunder their resources.