Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

China's rise has in many ways unnerved the West. The country's "assertive" foreign policy is source of regional tension in the eyes of many. Its hunger for raw materials is believed by some to drive up prices globally. The country's booming economy is churning out pollution that may choke half of the earth.

In its Christmas issue, The Economist magazine brought attention to China's swine industry. According to the article, "China's insatiable appetite for pork is a symbol of the country's rise. It is also a danger to the world." After so many China-bashing stories, the author might think it is refreshing to link Chinese pork consumption to perplexing global woes, such as global warming.

As they are blamed for so many bad things that happen in the world, this newfound sin of eating pork is more bemusing than offensive to Chinese. In fact, some Chinese netizens joke that if China is criticized by developed countries for doing something, it only proves we are doing the right thing.

Putting aside the question of if you can blame people for nourishing themselves and whether raising pigs in China can be definitively linked to the shrinking of the Amazon rain forest, the author selectively ignores shifts in global trade in a broader sense.

For example, in addition to consuming resources, China is also the world largest importer of scrap paper. Zhang Yin, who once topped the Hurun China Rich List, made her fortune by importing containers of scrap paper. China supplies truffles to some of the finest restaurants in Europe, and luxurious cashmere sweaters sold on Fifth Avenue could be made of the hair of goats raised in China. Needless to say, brands such as Nike and Apple, have been scrutinized for benefitting from sweatshop labor in China.

The pork industry in China indeed deserves criticism, like for its overuse of antibiotics and additives, but not simply for existing. News of dead pigs flowing along the Huangpu River in Shanghai last year showed how poorly the industry is managed. The Economist article could have been more pertinent if the author had offered suggestions about how the industry could be regulated and managed.

Or the article could have reminded China of the dangers of obesity and diabetes, which were regarded as "wealthy diseases" by Chinese decades ago but have started to affect an increasing number of people in China.

But is that really a top health concern for China? According to the World Health Organization, many low and middle income countries are facing a double burden of infectious disease and malnutrition on one hand, and obesity on the other hand. In China's richer urban areas, obesity has become a problem, but in the vast, poorer inland regions, many primary schools struggle to meet the goal of providing students with an adequately nutritious meal.

What annoys Chinese readers most is perhaps the tone of this article. It is ignorant and biased like many other commentaries written about China-related topics in the Western media.

Blaming China has become the laziest way for Western analysts and politicians looking to find solutions to their own problems. China is either doing too much, and disrupting its region, or doing too little to reduce the burdens of developed countries. The country is expected to play a bigger role in driving forward the world economy by expanding its internal market, but Chinese people better eat less pork for sake of the world.

Articles like this perhaps make some readers in Britain feel better about themselves, but are no help in solving any problem.

The author is a commentator with the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn