The Western media gave relatively little coverage to this year's award of the Nobel Peace Prize,  yet they were highly concerned with the suspension of two separate organizations' plans to award a "Confucius Peace Prize" in China.

For the Western media, that both organizations were allegedly attached to the Ministry of Culture of the country shows that China's government is attempting to challenge the Nobel Peace Prize, and to resist Western universal values with Chinese values.

As a country with a long history, large population, and tradition of peace, China has not only the right but also responsibility to indicate its understanding of peace, and to conduct active communication with the other cultures in order to reach the greatest possible common views and intersections in terms of the idea and issue of peace.

The values of peace in China and in the West are not completely opposite. In fact, peace as the opposite of war is valued similarly by China and the West. Besides, universal values such as freedom, democracy and human rights, which the West is proud of, are attractive to the Chinese too. The reason that countries like China and some other non-Western countries criticized the Nobel Peace Prize is that they believe the prize has increasingly become a political tool of the Western countries, and stirs up disputes.

But no matter what the original intentions and ideas behind the establishment of the Confucius Peace Prize is, the prize, as long as it exists, can hardly avoid being regarded as an opponent of the Nobel Peace Prize. Confucius has been politicized and turned into a tool, and his image as a Chinese cultural symbol and sage has been diminished as a result.

Confucianism has been on the sharp end of criticism since modern times in China. Today's China is reluctant to be called a Confucian country.

If the values of Confucius aren't practiced in China but we try to impose them  throughout the world, it goes against the Confucian idea of "Do as you would be done by," and will be confusing to and ridiculed by the world. That's why it's not wise to pick Confucius' name for a "peace prize."

Therefore, the real problem is not about whether China establishes a prize to express the values of peace, but how it illustrates the peaceful rise and development of a civilized country through the practical actions.

China should also actively communicate with and understand other countries and cultures through various means such as peace forums and peace organizations.

Also, using different communication platforms to express the values of peace through the diversity of Chinese culture is another good way. For example, exploring the thinking of another early Chinese philosopher, Mozi, would better than abusing Confucianism.

Considering Confucius' philosophy of good government, his sense of the world, and his statecraft, it's not exaggerated to call him the earliest master of peace.

 But China's task is to continue the cultural and philosophical heritage of Confucianism, and to act like a Confucian country.

In recent years, Shandong Province, as well as the Confucian-associated towns of Jining and Qufu there, have separately established a Confucius Cultural Prize, Confucius Friendship Prize and Confucius Education Prize.

Although these prizes are not very influential, the ideas behind them are quite good and correspond to Confucian concepts. They deserve more attention than overblown and politicized prizes.

The author is a visiting scholar in the US. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn