As a result, their reports about China sometimes turn out to be absurd. In the reporting of the riot in Tibet in March 2008, it was the rioters or thugs who killed innocent people, yet in the reports by some Western media, that truth was turned upside down and Chinese armed police officers who saved people's lives were reported as the murderers.

Those Western journalists should come to China to see in person what this country has achieved and how the living standards of its people have improved.

The Western media needs to learn that China is not what it used to be, and neither is the world.

Chinese leaders have reiterated on many different occasions that this country will pursue a road of peaceful development and they mean what they have said. China is not a threat to the West now and nor will it be in the future.

The West should stop looking at this country with a distorted view so we can all build a harmonious world.

The author is a senior writer of China Daily.

(China Daily 04/07/2011 page8)