by Xinhua writers Gu Zhenqiu, Gui Tao
CAMBRIDGE, Britain, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- "Can anybody here answer me?" a British gentleman asked here Friday. "Why is China repeatedly criticized by the Western media?"
James Cronin, director of Eight Legal Ltd. based in a town in southwest England, said at a symposium on China's Belt and Road Initiative that he has long been haunted by what he read about China in Western media.
Cronin, who offers employment law solutions for businesses in Cheltenham which is about two hours' driving west of London, raised his questions as some of the participants said that it is difficult to build trust between China and Western countries.
Challenged by Cronin, two Western speakers who preached a better Western political system at the Cambridge event kept silent.
"Really?" -- was often his first response while reading negative China stories carried by some of Western newspapers.
After talking to some professors and students at Cambridge University, Cronin got to know that the criticism originated from Western prejudice against the Oriental country.
"I want to challenge those who criticize China," he told Xinhua later. "It seems that whatever China does, Western media are ready to attack China."
"I want to challenge them," he said. "It is unfair to China."
"I want to challenge the idea that the Western mechanism is better," he said, adding that the Western countries should have recognized the Chinese contribution to the world, including the Belt and Road Initiative.
"The Chinese initiative is really good to the world," he said.
David De Cremer, professor of management studies at Judge Business School at Cambridge University, said that the Chinese initiative is not a one-man band, it is already a symposium played by all countries on board.
Proposed in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is aimed at developing trade routes running through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and developed European economic circle at the other.
"Whether you like or not, China stands out now to show global leadership," Cremer said.
"There is too much misunderstanding about China in the West," Cronin said. "I know very clearly that it is hard to remove the Western prejudice."
He asked Western people to respect Chinese law and believe that they can get fair legal treatment when doing business with China.
"Do not say that the Western system is better, and the British law is fairer," Cronin said. "We also have some MPs (members of parliament) who go to jail because of fraud and other forms of corruption."
"The solution, I think, is to increase people-to-people contact between China and Western countries," he said. "When more and more Western people can better understand the Chinese culture, the prejudice will be reduced little by little."
