Photo taken on Feb. 16, 2020 shows the inner view of the Lusail Stadium, one of the 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums, in Lusail, Qatar. The installation of the main steel frame of Lusail Stadium, built by China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), completed on Sunday. (Photo by Nikku/Xinhua)

 
China should build partnerships and promote its soft power to counter false allegations from Western media, organizations and countries, an expert said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"For years China has encountered a fierce systematic Western approach to advertise fears of everything" coming from the Asian country, said Waleed Gaballah, a member of the Egyptian Association for Political and Economic Legislation.

Gaballah said China should uproot Western fears by employing its soft power in the form of industrial and trade partnerships.

The expert suggested that China should create partnerships with small- and medium-sized businesses as well as small projects in friendly countries to promote its image as "a partner rather than a lender."

Doing so would alter the false image of China on ground and eradicate unsubstantiated fears, he added.

A Kenyan journalist takes a selfie with female train drivers Concilia (C) and Alice (L) during the launching day of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Mombasa, Kenya, on May 31, 2017. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

 
Currently, some Western countries are exaggerating their coverage of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, noted Gaballah. Some Western media are using double standards when reporting the epidemic in China, despite the flu killing far more people in the United States.

"It's really essential to refute Western allegations with concrete facts and figures," he said.

"I think it's very important to publish more books about China's cultural, social, developmental, educational, security, and technological progress to combat Western lies and fabrications," Gaballah said.

The book "Fake Fear: America and China Relations" recently published in Britain is a "good book for clarifying the correct image about China," he added.

The book, written by Chinese scholar Xin Jiyan, tackles the role of the fear industry created in the West to harm China's image and distort reality, he said.

China could bolster its soft power by emphasising the open-minded nature of the Chinese people and their acceptance of differences in language, culture, religion and social background, he said.

What else could China do? Gaballah suggests creating more entertainment media in the form of television programs, documentaries and films expounding China's development successes over the past 40 years.