Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

It has been almost a week since the terrorist attack in Moscow. While the whole world is waiting for Russia to reveal the truth, the American media outlet VOA has published two articles pointing the finger at China for building anti-US conspiracy theories behind the Moscow attack. 

In the first article, VOA said that the US seems to be blamed again on Chinese social media, with many netizens believing that the US was the mastermind behind the attack. On Wednesday, VOA published another article directly accusing Beijing of secretly promoting anti-US sentiment. These two articles show that the US media show no sympathy for a country whose citizens suffer from terror. Instead, it serves as an information dissemination tool that demonize China at every opportunity.

After a sudden terrorist attack occurs, it is normal that there would be diverse opinions before the truth is revealed. The US first warned of a terrorist attack in Russia and then confirmed the authenticity of ISIS' statement, making it difficult not to focus on the US. Even some Western opinions speculated on the relationship between Washington and the event, and the relationship between Washington and extremist organizations. 

The suspicion of some Chinese netizens is the same as that of Western voices. It is not a special existence, not to say it is not manipulated by the Chinese government.

If the US media believe that the voices of suspicion against the US on Chinese social media have a target, they only prove that the image of the US in the eyes of the Chinese people is deteriorating. The reason lies in the US' long-standing insincere attitude toward China and its excessive calculations against China. 

"The US in the eyes of the Chinese people is different than before. The US' actions in recent years have caused it to lose the trust of the Chinese people," Sun Xihui, an associate research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. 

The dissatisfaction in China with the US comes from the actual harm to China's national interests and hostile actions by the US. In recent years, the US has been unscrupulous in its anti-China actions such as forming cliques and suppressing and sanctioning Chinese companies. Internationally, the US uses Ukraine as a proxy to contain Russia and takes a biased stance in the Israel-Palestine conflict by favoring Israel. What the Chinese see is the US constantly making enemies, being aggressive, and disregarding regional stability and peace in order to maintain its hegemonic power.

However, it is important to note that this dissatisfaction in China is not deeply rooted, and as long as the US changes its anti-China policy, the negative sentiment of some Chinese people will dissipate. This sentiment is not enough to become a tool for the Chinese government to attack the US. 

VOA's fabrication of stories about China manipulating anti-US sentiment and weaving conspiracy theories against the US is actually part of the US' propaganda war against China to tarnish China's image. 

The current propaganda war by the US will not achieve the desired effect. Blaming everything on China will ultimately undermine the US' own credibility, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said. 

The US media alleged that China is encouraging anti-US sentiment, but it is clear that China has always encouraged both sides to strengthen communication and engagement, even in difficult situations.