GOP presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina raised controversy recently, after her interview earlier this year with Iowa political video blog Caffeinated Thoughts was published on BuzzFeed. Fiorina criticized Common Core education, in a contrast she said "Chinese can take a test, but what they can't do is innovate." Besides, she judged that the Chinese "are not terribly imaginative," or "entrepreneurial," and "they are stealing our intellectual property."

This is not the first time that Fiorina made such comments. In her book Rising to the Challenge: My Leadership Journey, she broached the subject, arguing that China's educational system is "too homogenized and controlled to encourage imagination and risk taking." Fiorina's controversial remarks have not raised much backlash in Chinese public opinion. A lot of Netizens calmly expressed their opinions on social media, saying that she doesn't have to tell the Chinese we have a faulty educational system, because "we, of course, know that."

As an entrepreneur who claimed she "has been doing business in China for decades," in her nit-picking remarks, she deliberately ignored the critical part of the big picture that China is making progress in innovation and educational improvement.

As a high-tech industry insider, Fiorina cannot ignore the growth of China's Internet companies, in which innovation has played a crucial role. But being a presidential hopeful, Fiorina unimaginatively chose to bash China, because criticism of China will probably lead to bigger likelihood that she can get more votes.

China-related issues have seen an unprecedented presence in US domestic politics, in which politicians are conjuring up various threats posed by China's rise: How the Chinese have snatched American jobs, how Chinese companies have stolen US technologies, and how China's rise has challenged US dominance.

These bashings get particularly heavy during election season. Be they GOP or Democrats, most presidential candidates are sparing no effort showing the electorate their tough stance against China. Although after being elected, a new president will usually rearrange their China policy to a more pragmatic direction, it won't totally make amends for the negative impact on the American impression of China.

During election season, there is always hustling and bustling in the US political arena, with candidates making headline-grabbing remarks. But they must keep in mind that their statements and actions regarding foreign relations do not have something to do with whether they can get the presidency. Without this vision, they can only be a politician, not a statesman.