During the highly anticipated debate between China Global Television Network's Liu Xin and Fox Business' Trish Regan on Thursday, the American anchorwoman revealed her poor understanding of China by raising an abrupt question: "How do you define state capitalism?"

State capitalism - an archaic concept with an overtone of last century's ideological struggles. I keyed in "state capitalism" on Google and the first results popping up were "state capitalism and dictatorship" and "state capitalism and the crisis." See? In the Western discourse system, this concept is inherently linked to these negative notions. When speaking of state capitalism, Westerners are by no means objective, but always take a presupposed standpoint with bias and criticism.

It was a concept trap in which Regan expected Liu to fall. But before playing such tricks, can Regan herself figure out the meaning of state capitalism? We highly doubt that. China's economic system in her simplified understanding is "capitalist" but also "state-run."

Liu decently pointed out that China's socialist economy with Chinese characteristics was not "just state controlled," but is "quite mixed, very dynamic and very open as well."

Regan's perspective may represent that of many Americans'. It's already 2019, but their understanding of China seems stuck in the 1950s. Some pretend to know China well, but all their talks are clichés - they themselves may not even comprehend the meaning. Knowing a few stereotypical concepts such as socialism and state capitalism is far from understanding the real China.

We suggest US media stop misleading the American public's judgment on China with outdated stereotypes and conceptualized expressions. Why not come to China and have first-hand experience of socialism with Chinese characteristics? I have to reiterate: It is socialism with Chinese characteristics, not state capitalism.

Chinese people are pragmatists who focus on reality rather than bells and whistles.

Over the last four decades more than 700 million Chinese escaped poverty. According to the UN, China has contributed to over 70 percent of poverty alleviation across the world. Former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim praised China's poverty reduction effort as "one of the great stories in human history."

China's achievements in infrastructure construction are also remarkable. By the end of 2018, the total length of rural roads nationwide reached 4.05 million kilometers, with 99.47 percent of villages having hard-surfaced roads to the outside world. Every Chinese person was able to access electricity by December 2015.

Still a developing country, China cannot catch up with the US in terms of average wealth. But unlike the US, China doesn't deploy troops all over the world, but has dedicated itself to promoting the living standards of ordinary people in a down-to-earth manner.

In the US, the self-proclaimed world leader, 39.7 million (12.3 percent) of its population is still in poverty, and among them, around 554,000 are even homeless. As for the country's infrastructure, it is "poor to fair condition and mostly below standard," according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. When sending troops all over the world, has the US thought at least a little bit about its thousands of homeless people?

We kindly advise Regan to learn more about China. Here is also a tip for the US: Stop playing on words and perform some real deeds for the people. In particular, stop engaging in a trade war that severely affects the two peoples - that matters most now.


Newspaper headline: Stereotype reveals Regan’s poor understanding of China