Why won't West try to understand China? ambassador asks
Posted: 13 April 2008 0856 hrs

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LONDON - China's ambassador to Britain said Sunday the protests against the Olympic torch relay illustrated a growing gulf in understanding between China and the West.

Fu Ying, writing in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, hit out at the "violent" British demonstrators who tried to grab the torch on its chaotic passage through London this month and accused the Western media of "demonising" her country.

"Standing in the middle, I am concerned that mutual perceptions between the people of China and the West are quickly drifting in opposite directions," she wrote.

"I cannot help asking why, when it comes to China, the generalised accusations can easily be accepted without people questioning what exactly and specifically they mean; why any story or figures can stay on the news for days without factual support."

The ambassador said the demonstrators who disrupted the relay in protest over China's crackdown in Tibet were misinformed.

"Of those who protested loudly, many probably have not seen Tibet. For the Chinese people, Tibet is a loved land and information about it is ample. Four million tourists visit Tibet every year," she wrote.

"There may be complicated problems of religion mixing with politics (in Tibet), but people are well-fed, well-clothed and well-housed."

She said protests against the torch run had prompted younger Chinese to "begin a collective rethinking about the West."

"Many who had romantic views about the West are very disappointed at the media's attempt to demonise China," Fu wrote.

She said the world's media should make more effort to understand China and she called on Western journalists operating there to show more "respect", although she said media wishing to report "bad stories" would not be stopped.

"The world has waited for China to join it. Now China has to have the patience to wait for the world to understand China."

The Olympic torch arrived Saturday in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam to start a drastically curtailed African leg after the early stages in London and Paris were hit by protests and the third stage in San Francisco was shortened at the last minute.

The Beijing Olympics takes place from August 8-24. - AFP/ir