Editor's Note:

The "Cognitive Warfare" has become a new form of confrontation between states, and a new security threat. With new technological means, it sets issues and spreads disinformation so as to change people's perceptions and thus alter their self-identity. Launching cognitive warfare against China is an important means for Western anti-China forces to attack and discredit the country. Under the manipulation of the US-led West, the "China threat theory" has continued to ferment.

Some politicians and media outlets have publicly smearing China's image by propagating the tones like "China's economy collapse theory" and "China's virus threat theory," in an attempt to incite and provoke dissatisfaction of people in some countries with China. These means all serve the peaceful evolution strategy of the US to contain China's rise and to maintain its hegemony.

The Global Times is publishing a series of articles to systematically reveal the intrigues of the US-led West's cognitive warfare targeting China, expose its lies and vicious intentions, in an attempt to show international readers a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic view of China.

This is the second installment in the series.

When the Chinese economy faces a tough time during June and July, with major economic indicators showing a trend moving toward a pessimistic direction, a chorus of voices pushing the "China collapse" theory across some Western media reached a frenzied pitch, churning out some of the most sensational and absurd stories of the year in their cognitive warfare against China.

In addition to the ongoing issue of biased coverage of China, a number of falsehoods have recently emerged in several highly regarded Western journalistic publications. The Global Times analyzed some of the most commonly used tricks appeared in these products of rogue journalism and identified the four most prevailing techniques: double standards, selective blindness, manipulation of statistics and misleading expectations. 

The article aims to dig into the details of how these four techniques are applied by certain Western media outlets when it comes to smearing and discrediting China's economy, and even profiting from it.

Double standards

"Double standards" have become the secret holy grail held by some Western media when it comes to reporting on China's economy. This bias has led to their reports set up with similar angles and laden with extreme view points.

In June 2022, UK-based The Economist published a story with the headline "In stamping out covid, China has stomped on confidence." Then in November, the magazine ran a story titled "Ending China's zero-covid policy could unleash chaos." Then again, in spring, as China reopened, this same newspaper runs a piece "How China's reopening will disrupt the world economy."

Any reader who strenuously followed all the stories published by this magazine following this timeline would see that to The Economist, whether China removes epidemic control measures or not, the Chinese economy will suffer, and even the world economy stands to lose. In both cases it is China's wrong, so that China can be wronged twice.

Recently, some Western media outlets including the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times have attributed the weak performance of Japan and South Korea to a slowing of the Chinese economy. However, these reports conveniently omitted the US wreaking havoc across global markets with its "decoupling" and "de-risk" push targeting China and intervention that impeded trade between these countries with China.

Other facts that have conveniently gone missing include the US' debt ceiling crisis, downgraded ratings, the banking crisis in the West and protectionist measures like the US Inflation Reduction Act that include unfair subsidy provisions.

There were other times, when the Chinese economy somewhat outperformed expectations in certain sectors, and was quickly labeled as a threat to the global economy.

This week, in tandem with the European Commission's so-called anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles, a common word that appeared in the headlines of stories run by The New York Times, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal was the "threat" of China. 

Those media outlets often vacillate between their so-called "China collapse" theory and "China threat" theory, spinning between "China is collapsing" and "China is a threat" as the Chinese economy experience ups and downs on the arduous path to recovery. 

Selective blindness

In September, Michael Yon, who calls himself "America's most experienced combat correspondent," posted pictures depicting an empty coffee shop and deserted streets in Shanghai's financial center Lujiazui on the US social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "China is showing the most signs of an economy in trouble. Shanghai is a ghost town compared to what it was," Yon wrote in the post.

The US news magazine Newsweek was quick to cite it, without any level of fact checking, when it perceived an opportunity to stoke its agenda to smear China. In the article, the publication, turning a blind eye to the long list of follow-up posts by netizens claiming the contrary, suggestively asked "Has China's Shanghai turned into 'ghost town'?" 

The article, despite noting "disputes" over how the pictures were used via social media, also claimed that "economists have raised concerns about the state of the Chinese economy." 

In fact, the US coffee chain Starbucks, which in the latest fiscal quarter saw its China revenue jump 51 percent year-on-year and has opened up more shops in the period when the article emerged than the two previous quarters combined. And it's unlikely the coffeemaker was opening up shops in empty areas. 

While the whole news product is a fake and absurd slander, it served its purpose - to paint a gloomy portrait of the Chinese economy which is experiencing hardship during an unprecedented economic recovery and further dent confidence in China at a crucial moment.

The fail-safe excuses of these Western media seem to be: while the fact we point out may not be as correct as it should be or even completely false, our concern that the Chinese economy might not be doing OK is always forgivable, or even commendable.

Analysts noted the absence of logic in this approach, saying that it kills the essence of journalism and such ignorance and negligence should not be tolerated. The phenomenon also reflected a deep-down impulse by some Western media and establishment to throw whatever they have at China to contain the country's growth and development.

But one thing is for sure: to underreport the positive news about China's economy and to spread panic and misinformation is a common tactic employed by some Western media when it comes to discrediting China.

Between August 25 and 30, The New York Times ran a total of nine stories devoted to examining problems across the Chinese economy. The topic ranged from China's real estate debt and "How should the West mange China's decline" to "The Scientist Who Foresaw China's Stagnation" and a crisis of confidence in China.

Then, on September 15, when China published its economic data for August and the data pointed toward a marked improvement and a turning point from an earlier phased slowdown, guess how many articles the same newspaper wrote? Just one. And the article reluctantly admitted "Chinese consumers are spending a little more," but noted that "apartment prices and the pace of construction keep falling."

Many Western media outlets eagerly reported China's customs import and export data while largely ignoring the balance of payments data, despite the fact that the latter data, with standardized global accounting practices, offered a more meaningful window into China's economic performance.

Analysts said the deep-seated reason behind this slanted coverage is the significant seasonal fluctuations in customs data, while China's balance of payments data remained largely stable and its proportion to the GDP has continued to be within a reasonable range, and therefore, less leverageable for their angled reports to attack China. 

Yu Miaojie, the president of Liaoning University, told the Global Times that the "China collapse" theory pushed by the West since the 1990s, with claims of Chinese exports underperforming is also a well-worn attack line. .

"They often adopt fragmentary narratives, zoom in on certain negative events and irresponsibly connect dots between single and isolated cases to spin their narrative. They focus on problematic trees and intentionally leave the overall healthy state of the forest untold," Yu said.

Yet the fact that such claims have repeated run into wall of facts have not prevented a continued avalanche of anti-China sentiment, Yu said, noting that some Western media's obstinately clinging to the belief that their model is the only viable model and the deep-down denial of the existence, let alone the success of the Chinese economic model.

Manipulation of statistics

The manipulation of statistics in an effort to favorably portray Western economies and cast doubt on China's economy is yet another tactic used by the Western media, who often describe themselves as impartial and data driven. 

For instance, The Economist's cover story on August 26 stated that China's annualized growth rate in the second quarter was a disappointing 3.2 percent, whereas a seemingly robust US economy posted an annualized growth rate of nearly 6 percent.

The data is appalling. Insightful readers would be alerted by the growth data of the US, as the US economy's averaged growth rate in the decade prior to the pandemic only came at 2.25 percent, and now, there is a 6-percent growth?

In fact, the estimate that the US economy would see a "nearly 6 percent growth" was based on a prediction within a model issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, even as the bank itself had cautioned that this prediction was unreliable and was double that of market expectations.

The article deliberately overlooked data from China's National Bureau of Statistics, which showed year-on-year growth rate of 6.3 percent for the quarter. Instead, it chose a quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 0.8 percent and projected this rate over the next three quarters to calculate the annualized growth rate, producing a lower figure than the year-on-year data.

If calculated with the method they used to assess China's economy, the US annualized GDP growth in the second quarter of 2023 would be 2.1 percent, lower than that of China's.

Analysts noted that manipulation of data by using non-comparable statistical methods is the opposite of professional journalism and serves certain Western media's malicious intents to undermine China. By making China look weak, they hope they could comfort their readers amidst high and untamed inflations inflicted by the irresponsible policies of their governments.

Jeff Zhang, a senior vice president with a Hong Kong-based bank, told the Global Times that one of underlying reasons for these distorted presentation of the Chinese economy is the hidden motivation by Western media to shepherd international capital and investors away from the Chinese market, as draining such valuable resources away from China will hinder the country's effort to catch-up technologically and cultivate new strategic industries.

Misleading expectations

Liu Ying, a research fellow from the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that perhaps where these Western media truly excel is the timing they chose to promulgate their fake news.

The Chinese economy went through a tough period in the summer, with major indicators in June and July falling below expectations. Instead of wanting to see the phenomenon in a rational light, as economies around the world suffered a long and arduous process after the reopening, and recognize the wave-like and zigzag nature of trajectory of Chinese economic recovery, some Western media took the opportunity to push fear and crisis.

They intentionally constructed a narrative suggesting that China's consumer market should experience an immediate "revenge" surge, and China's economy should maintain a "strong rebound." Adding that deviation from these so-called "constructed expectations" was a clear sign that they want to send: China's economy was in big trouble.

Rogue journalism has not gone unnoticed by those with insights around the world and these Western media's move of tarnishing their own credibility has its consequences.

On October 4, Richard Kozul-Wright, the director of United Nation Conference on Trade and Development's Globalisation and Development Strategies division, criticized the prevailing pessimism surrounding the Chinese economy, according to AFP. The UN official said his institution "certainly don't agree with the almost hysterical reaction some of the Western press has adopted toward China."

"Badmouthing China and Russia sell newspapers! Anyway, I cancelled my subscriptions. The [Western] media only add to their own self-inflicted delusions and nightmares," a user commented.

The research fellow Liu warned that established and respectable Western financial institutions are increasingly colluding with Western politicians and media, issuing biased reports or ratings designed to undermine the Chinese economy and profit from the chaos as they pick up assets at low prices by those who become snared in their misinformation.

Since last year, lawmakers, former officials and local officials from countries like the US, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Canada and the UK have been increasingly flocking to the island of Taiwan to make symbolic visits, expressing their "concerns" about the Taiwan question explicitly. 

These politicians' visits to the island of Taiwan are driven by various motivations, including ideological biases against China, strategic fantasies about using the Taiwan region to contain China or simply seeking personal gain and media attention. However, they all share one commonality: They either have fallen for the deception and manipulation of the "Taiwan independence" forces, becoming their pawns and pulling their chestnuts out of the fire, or aligning with Taiwan secessionists to pursue their own political interests at home by exploiting the Taiwan question, becoming troublemakers in the Taiwan Straits.

In 2018, the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on the Taiwan island once said that the region can also be a "chess player" that "goes with the flow." There were even rumors in local media at the time stating that "Trump is Taiwan's pawn." In fact, Taiwan secessionist forces have repeatedly portrayed themselves as victims to gain the sympathy of some in the West. They have exploited the ignorance and greed of Western politicians to gain political "compassion and support," thereby destabilizing the situation in the Taiwan Straits.

In 2016, after regaining power on the island, the DPP learned from its past failures of a tough and urgent approach to gain "Taiwan independence" and shifted its strategy. They abandoned fabricating a legal basis for "independence" in an abrupt way and instead pushed for a concealed, flexible and pragmatic "incremental independence." This approach no longer openly backs independence and claims not to "provoke a conflict" or "act rashly," all while "maintaining the status quo." 

In reality, the DPP refuses to recognize the 1992 Consensus which embodies the one-China principle, aiming to make a breakthrough by "incremental independence." It steadfastly adheres to a "Taiwan independence" stance. With its comprehensive control over the island, the DPP actively disrupts the cross-Straits peace, development and exchanges, promoting "de-Sinicization" and intensifying an "anti-China" atmosphere within Taiwan.

Before Western societies, the "Taiwan independence" forces have explicitly displayed their false banner of "democracy and freedom," seeking to rely on external forces to pursue "independence" and resist reunification by force. It is because of these despicable methods in deception of these Western societies as well as their willingness to "play with fire" and cater to external forces' attacks on China's values that arrogant Western politicians are selectively ignoring the harmful nature of "Taiwan independence" and providing support and endorsement.

For example, in December 2016, the newly elected US president Donald Trump ignorantly spoke on the phone with Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen, which was exaggerated by the media in the Taiwan region as a "historic breakthrough in US-Taiwan relations." In fact, it is well known to those with insight both inside and outside Taiwan that the Taiwan secessionists are accustomed to deception. Many veteran politicians in Taiwan who support "Taiwan independence" have admitted that "independence" is simply not feasible. Western politicians, driven by their calculations to play the "Taiwan card," are actually using and being used by the DPP authorities.

Resolving the Taiwan question and achieving complete national reunification is the common aspiration of all Chinese people, including our compatriots in the Taiwan region. The historical trend of China's national reunification and great rejuvenation is unstoppable. Any force that tries to resist this trend is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Currently, China is comprehensively embracing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through the Chinese modernization, bringing significant development opportunities to countries around the world. In recent times, senior politicians from many countries and well-known multinational corporate executives among others have embarked on a wave of visits to China, hoping to share development opportunities with China and jointly create a blueprint for cooperation and win-win outcomes in the new era. These are wise and visionary people.

Those politicians who pay a provocative visit to the Taiwan region should wake up and recognize the overall trend of historical development. 

They need to abide by the one-China principle as a basic norm of international relations and do things that are truly beneficial to the stability of the Taiwan Straits, friendship and cooperation with China as well as the well-being of their own people.

The opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China on Saturday evening. Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony and declare the opening of the games. This is a big day for the whole of Asia. More than 12,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions across the continent are participating. It is the largest and most comprehensive Asian Games in history. First of all, it is a sports event in Asia with global influence. Athletes from various countries and regions in Asia fight hard on the field and compete with their best skill and spirit. It is not just a sports event. When the international situation is complex and tense, Asia cannot be an exception. The successful hosting of the Asian Games has made the world generally feel the appeal of unity and friendship, which has positive significance for the entire Asia and even the world.

Chinese people generally have special emotions and memories about the Asian Games. The three Asian Games represent the three important junctures for China as it embraced the world. The 1990 Beijing Asian Games was the first comprehensive international large-scale sports event held by China. It greatly inspired the patriotism and pride of Chinese society. Chinese people who experienced that era still remember it vividly. Twenty years later, at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, the world marveled at a highly open Guangzhou and China's economic miracle. Today's Hangzhou Asian Games fully demonstrates the maturity and steadiness of a big country in the concept of "green," "intelligent," "frugal," and "civilized." This is a manifestation of China's responsibility as a major country.

No one will doubt the level of organization and the splendor of the Hangzhou Asian Games. Last month, Chengdu successfully hosted the 31st Summer World University Games. Last year, Beijing successfully hosted the Winter Olympics. Before that, there was the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The international sports events hosted by China at different times and in different cities have different local characteristics and flavor of the times. They show different levels of splendor, but leave the same deep impression on the world. "China-held" international sports events have become a well-known brand. It provides the best competition venues and environment for athletes from all over the world, and has left many scenes and records for the world that will be engraved in history.

This can also be seen as a new moment of unity in Asia. It brings together members of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and elevates the sense of Asian consciousness and unity to new heights. Unlike the Olympic Games, the Asian Games have carried the significance of Asian nations' sovereign independence and unity since the inception. Beyond competitive sports, they serve as a spiritual vessel for the most populous, vast, and diverse continent in the world to come together and move forward.

As a bridge for communication, reconciliation, and friendship, the Asian Games not only showcase the strength of the athletes but also provide strength for unity and cooperation in Asia and the world. This spirit and strength have been consistently supported by China and are worthy of collective appreciation by all.

In recent years, through the collective efforts of various countries and regions in Asia, the continent has achieved remarkable success in terms of peace and development. It cannot be denied that today, the overall environment for cooperation and development in Asia is facing unprecedented challenges. Under the incitement of external forces, there have been both evident and potential rifts within Asia, with signs of differentiation and division becoming increasingly pronounced. The looming shadow of a "new cold war" adds to the complexity.

Asia is currently at a crossroads and a pivotal moment in its history. The choices made now will determine the destiny of Asia in the future. The Asian Games, on its sporting stage, actually points to a promising path for Asia, which is one of striving for progress and unity in collaboration.

As the opening of the Asian Games approaches, many Chinese people once again sing the song "Asian Treasures" from 1990 when China hosted the Asian Games for the first time. "In our Asia, mountains are our heads high." The powerful lyrics and melody of "Asian Treasures" resonate strongly, providing a vivid and powerful summary of that era in Asia and an accurate vision of the future of Asia. The impact of the "Four Asian Tigers" and the "Four Asian Dragons" and the rapid development of China's economy truly exemplified the sentiment of "Asian Treasures."

While enjoying the exciting events at the Hangzhou Asian Games, let us also rekindle the courage and enthusiasm of the "Asian Treasures," allowing the spirit and influence of Asia to continue to resonate across the continent.

Beijing Daxing International Airport had its fourth anniversary on Monday, having been put into operation on September 25, 2019. It had notched more than 80 million passenger trips as of Sunday, the airport said.

The airport has had a total of 682,900 flight takeoffs and landings, a passenger throughput of 82.48 million trips, and a cargo throughput of 557,300 tons, the airport added.

Daxing airport restarted international passenger flights in January this year, and has made efforts to expand routes to Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea, while continuously expanding into the Southeast Asian and Oceanian markets.

As of the end of August, the airport has opened a total of 202 routes, covering 185 destinations in 18 countries and regions.

The airport conducted 7.94 million passenger trips in the two months' summer travel rush that ended on August 31, up 163 percent from the same period last year and the best performance in the summer travel rush since the airport opened.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China is accelerating the resumption of outbound travel.

The number of international passenger flights per week has recovered to 52 percent of the 2019 level, and the number of countries with passenger flight connectivity has recovered to nearly 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels, the administration said earlier this month.

A total of 826 million domestic passenger trips were made in China during the 8-day Mid-Autumn Festival & National Day holidays, a year-on-year increase of 71.3%. Holiday tourism generated 753.43 billion yuan ($104.68 billion), up 129.5% year-on-year, official data showed on Friday.

The first convertor transformer using China-made on-load tap changers have successfully been put into operation on Sunday at a crucial west-to-east power transmission project located in South China's Guangdong Province, according to a report published by xinhuanet.com. 

Feng Dong, a senior executive at a subsidiary of the China Southern Power Grid, was quoted by the report as saying that China had completed the technological breakthrough from scratch in field of convertor transformer on-load tap changers, and has achieved full localization of components and other products' industrial chains.

This marks the fact that China has officially broken through the restrictions of this core technology in high-end electric equipment, Feng said.

Previously, long-distance, large capacity and high voltage direct current facilities are required for the transmission of electricity from western to eastern areas in China, and both terminals for transmitting and receiving power need to use the equipment of converter transformer that weighs more than 300 tons.

On-load tap changers of a convertor transformer are used to adjust the voltage, power load and current, similar to the function of a gearbox in a car. 

Deng Jun, a senior technical expert at the aforementioned company, also said that an on-load tap changer of a convertor transformer has about 1,000 components, and is a highly complex and sophisticated piece of equipment.

According to the Xinhua report, this technology used to be grasped by only a few overseas companies, and when technical fault took place previously, Chinese companies had no choice but to replace the products with imported goods of the same model, whose ordering cycle took about three to four months, thus posing challenges to the safety of power operation in the country. 

The report also cited a deputy general manager of the company as saying that the company has established a team in partnership with upper stream and downstream companies along the industrial chains. 

After more than two years' of efforts, the team has broken through vacuum switch tubes and other technical bottlenecks to successfully research the large capacity convertor transformer on-load tap changer with rated capacity of 6,000 kilovolt-ampere, maximum voltage of 6,000 volt and maximum rated current of 1,300 ampere.

Using the domestically made on-load tap changers could save nearly 40 million yuan ($5.56 million) In the building of ultra-high voltage direct current power transmission projects, the manager said. 

Beijing's local government unveiled a new action plan on Wednesday for industrial innovation and development in the robot industry from 2023-2025, aiming to boost self-development across the supply chain in key technology areas. 

The plan comes as a follow-up to government efforts to take an active approach in the preparation for future industry development in areas like robots and artificial intelligence (AI), experts said.

The plan aims to ramp up the industry layout of humanoid robots and support enterprises and universities in developing key robot components. The capital also aims to support the establishment of an innovation center for humanoid robots.

Specific goals are included in the plan. By 2025, Beijing's innovation capability in the robot industry will be greatly improved and 100 types of high-tech and high value-added robot products will be cultivated, along with 100 application scenarios.

The city's robot industry is expected to generate revenue of more than 30 billion yuan by 2025.

The application scenarios for humanoid robots are wide-ranging, with potential demand in industries ranging from the services sector to municipal firefighting, Xiang Ligang, a veteran technology analyst, told the Global Times on Wednesday. "We need to proactively plan and prepare for the future in order to be in the front league of the world," Xiang noted.

Talking about the importance of developing humanoid robots and AI, Xiang said that it requires high levels of technological integration and represents the core of technological development. 

For example, the robots need to be able to move and maintain balance, and they should be able to sense and react to the surrounding environment, while demonstrating certain levels of artificial intelligence and understanding.

China has been an active player in technology development in this area, which gives the country an advantage for reaching its ambitious goals.

In January 2022, fifteen government departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission rolled out a plan for China to become a global leader in robot technology innovation by 2025. 
China's development in the related industries has been conspicuous in terms of expansion and technology advancement. For example, from 2016 to 2020, the scale of the country's robot industry grew at an average annual compound rate of about 15 percent.

Breakthroughs in key technologies and components such as precision reducers and intelligent controllers have also accelerated, and innovations and application scenarios are constantly emerging.

"We have already made significant progress domestically in terms of technological foundations. As the government takes the lead, providing funding and policy support, we can see that opportunities in the new industries - robots and AI - are about to emerge," Xiang said.

"Surely, this will require long-term investment, and it may take years to see significant results, but in order to take the lead, we must start preparing now," the expert said.

Three men from Southwest China’s Guizhou Province who attempted to illegally cross the border into Myanmar to engage in telecom fraud have been handed prison sentences ranging from four to six months, a local intermediate people’s court announced on Monday. 

Before the three men surnamed Wu, Huang and Yang were apprehended by police in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province when they attempted to illegally cross the border into Myanmar this February, it was discovered that the group had already crossed the border and entered Myanmar on multiple occasions.  

Wu had successfully illegally crossed the border between China and Myanmar in July of 2019, October of 2019, March of 2020 and October of 2020. He was rejected by the local crime syndicates there because he could not type and was unable to be part of the syndicate’s local telecom fraud operations. 

Huang also illegally crossed the border between China and Myanmar in January of 2019, July of 2019 before being apprehended when he attempted to cross the border in August of 2020. 

Yang illegally crossed the border in March of 2019. He illegally crossed the border again in May of 2020 but turned himself in December of 2020 upon returning to China. 

The three defendants had planned to travel to Myanmar together in February but were discovered on route in Yunnan. 

Their behaviors violated the laws and regulations governing border management and committed the crime of illegal border crossing. 

According to China’s Criminal Law, Wu was sentenced to six months in prison and was fined 7,000 yuan ($965). Huang was handed five months in detention and was fined 6,800 yuan while Yang was sentenced to four months detention and fined 6,800 yuan. 

The local judge noted in the decision that the public must remain vigilant to the pitfalls of high-paying jobs abroad and that overseas jobs should be sought through normal employment channels.