China’s rise cannot be wished away by foreign Media propaganda

Published: September 19,2023

By Staff writer 

Photo showing Shanghai City with people walking on streets taken in July 2023.

Photo credit @Gerald Mbanda.

Early this month I read a story published by one Andrew Stanton in the newsweek.com with a title questioning Shanghai City in China had turned into a ghost city, “Has China’s Shanghai Turned into ‘Ghost Town’? What Photos Show.”

 The author claims that his article was prompted by posted photographs on social media platform X showing empty streets of Shanghai and coffee shops like Starbucks. A social media user going by the names of Michael Yon, told the author of the story that the photographs showing empty Shanghai City were taken “by a friend and signal deep trouble for the Chinese economy.”

First of all, the story is a disgrace to an established American news magazine, Newsweek showing that the reputable magazine is also involved in spreading rumors and misinformation about China. The lie of Shanghai having turned into a “ghost city” is simply cheap and childish that it could not make a story if Newsweek cared to be a credible source of news and information. 

It is clearly evident that Newsweek has abandoned professional media ethics and is serving political interests meant to scare foreign investors away from China. Any serious reader would wonder why Newsweek would publish a story knowing very well that there is no grain of truth! The conclusion is simply, Newsweek is part of the rumor mill to tarnish the image of China.   

The real story is that Chinas economy picked very fast after COVID-19 lockdown was lifted and in quarter 2 of 2023, official figures indicated that the economy expanded by 6.3 percent, showing faster growth compared to the 4.5 economic growth reported in quarter 1. 

One the side of the Starbucks coffee outlets, the claim that they are “empty” is only laughable, as in August, Starbucks announced it was prepared to invest 1.5 billion yuan ($206 million) to establish an innovation and technology center in China and also to  have about 9,000 China outlets by 2025. The simple logical question here is, how can American companies pump more money in their investments in China when the economy is said to be crumbling?  

The west has always looked at China’s rise as a threat to their hegemony and gone as far as branding the country as “an enemy” instead of embracing health competition in trade and technological development.  The smear campaign against China has not worked for years and it is doomed to fail miserably as the bad western campaign only strengthens the Chinese people to work harder towards attaining the second centenary goal of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.