Interview: Expert sees need for better understanding, more communications between China, West

LOS ANGELES, June 29 (Xinhua) -- In the face of China's rapid growth, Western countries need to better understand China and improve communications with the Asian country, instead of seeing it as a threat, a world renowned sinologist has said.

China's meteoric rise "startled" the West and "generated fear of China instead of appreciation for its accomplishments," Roger T. Ames, humanities chair professor at Beijing-based Peking University and a renowned expert on Chinese and Western comparative philosophy, told Xinhua in a recent interview, noting that "We need more understanding and communication and less prejudice."

"China was part of the world that wasn't properly understood, and it's still misunderstood," said the Canadian-born philosopher, who retired from the University of Hawaii in 2016 after serving as a faculty member since 1978. He was the director of the Center for Chinese Studies of the university from 1991 to 2000, and the editor of the academic journal Philosophy East and West from 1987 to 2016. Xinhua caught up with Ames recently at his summer home in Hawaii.

"I am from a literary family and of a philosophical frame of mind. So, I wanted to understand what I didn't understand," Ames explained why he came up with the idea of studying and then teaching in China. "I've spent a lifetime seeking to understand China and it's still not enough."

"Unlike ancient Greek civilization and its democratic system upon which Western civilization is based, Chinese society, like many East Asian countries, is based on the teachings of Confucius, China's most famous and influential philosopher," he said.

"In the United States, we are all about being individuals, but in China's world, you are constituted by your relationships with family, neighbors and China as a whole," the expert said. The Chinese "embrace the idea of shared family values."

"Then, outside of the family, a harmonious society is China's highest value, one that seeks to optimize society's growth and creative opportunities," Ames added.

In saying this, Ames mentioned a long-term survey conducted anonymously in China by Harvard University's the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, which indicated that the Chinese people's satisfaction with the central government rose from 86.1 percent in 2003 to 93.1 percent in 2016.

Ames noticed that as humanity evolves, another top goal of China is to become more in balance and in harmony with the world around them. "China wants to be 'Family' with the world," he said.

The expert hailed in particular China's poverty alleviation endeavors in the past few decades as a "unique and extraordinary achievement."

"If that had happened in any European country, it would have been considered a miracle. But somehow, because it's the Chinese, something must be wrong with it," he said.

"What the U.S. government is doing is not helping," he warned. "Generating a wholly negative image of China is not accurate and not in anyone's interest."

"The U.S. demonizes China because it needs to create 'a pariah state' -- an 'Us against Them scenario' -- to enhance the power of what President Eisenhower described as the 'military-industrial complex,'" the expert said.

However, China "doesn't want to be American or European, they want to be Chinese. That's not a threat, it's an opportunity," he argued.

Ames stressed that China's development is an opportunity because the inclusive Chinese culture is based on a mixture of the best elements from many cultures, for example, localizing Buddhism and incorporating some of the Western culture and system into its own unique cultural values.

To avoid cultural misunderstandings and enhance East-West understanding and cooperation, Ames encourages students from the West to visit and study in China firsthand.

China's prominence in world culture is nothing new, the expert said, noting that the country only lost ground largely due to Western imperialism after the Industrial Revolution.

But today's China has much to offer, not just as a global marketplace, but its 5,000 years of history, culture and wisdom, unique arts and literature, its highly educated students and eager entrepreneurs, he added.

"The world is facing many problems we can only solve together, like COVID and global warming," said Ames, urging the world to act in unison.