Despite its swift growth, China's image has hardly improved in the West. More than a few Western observers argue that China's model is barely sustainable due to so-called authoritarianism, and that China is very reluctant to take on more international responsibilities.

I do not agree with such criticism. China is viewed through an ideological lens. Its model has been grilled, partly because the West, whose own capitalism is going through a severe crisis, is instinctively reluctant to accept the success of an emerging nation. In other words, an embattled West has been caught unprepared by a defiant but practical China.

Take the issue of labor rights. The West selectively ignores the reforms that the Chinese government has been practicing. They arbitrarily say that labor rights here have barely improved due to a very aggressive government.

In fact, China's five-year plan ensures the consistency of macro-economic policy. Such consistency, embedded in government control of the economy, bolsters efficiency of labor-intensive and low-value added industries, which initially came at the cost of not only the environment, but also a level playing field and social justice.

Meanwhile, the rise of the middle class in China has made people aware of social issues like labor rights. More individualism is likely to be the recipe for China to ensure social justice. 

While promoting reforms, China shouldn't be tempted by the West's liberal beliefs and change the role of the government in its economy. A recent report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development suggests the least developed countries to follow China's model in respecting the government's role, instead of the market-oriented therapy that IMF and the World Bank prescribed. The essence of the report says loud and clear that the unregulated free market led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the growth collapses in the poorest economies.

This is a bitter reality that the US can hardly swallow. The role of government, severely underestimated in the West, is an issue of crucial importance when they analyze disadvantages of the free-wheeling driving force of the market-oriented economy. Kevin Rudd, the Australian Foreign Minister, argues that the devastating neo-liberalism, which was inaugurated by the Reagan administration in early 1980s, should be replaced by social democracy and a new capitalism.

China is determined to take its own path, not only in its domestic development, but also in dealing with the world as well. China has common historical bonds with its poor brethren in former colonies over the same bitter memories. It is reaching  out to the world's 48 poorest countries, a far more generous framework than the US-led TPP.

China also insists on a no-strings-attached policy toward non-democracy nations, though this draws fire from the West, whose own hands-off monitoring in the US and loose political union in the eurozone have wreaked financial havoc with the rest of the world.

It is a false question to ask whether China is ready for global commitments. My answer is: Yes and no. Yes, we are well on the way. Take the economy. President Hu Jintao promised to give a tariff free treatment to 97 percent of the imports from the least developed countries that have diplomatic ties with China. He pledged this generous help at the G20 summit in France last month.

And no, this does not necessarily apply to the growing expectations from Europe for emergency bailout funds. China's status in the IMF remains far behind others. It is very difficult to persuade a skeptical domestic audience that we are already in an age to fall and rise together with the developed nations.

China is drawing unprecedented attention in the West. It is very natural that finger-pointing is frequently seen, although neither side really wants to rattle the other.

Both sides need navigation based on common interests and mutual respect. Finger-pointing about each other's assertiveness can play into the hands of nationalism, a common enemy for both. Facilitating and not blocking China's growth actually helps the whole world.

The author is a host with CCTV-News. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn