“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” For quite some time, the assertions made by Western media regarding China’s economy have reminded people of this Stephen Hawking quote.

For many years, the West has sought to undermine the Chinese economy from time to time. Those investors and so-called analysts have made sensational comments such as “a hard landing is practically unavoidable” and “China caused the financial crisis”.

However, the world’s second largest economy has been staying on a forward track. Those doom merchants are therefore repeatedly discredited.

The prevailing tune of an imminent “collapse of China” will be no exception, because it completely derails from the reality of China’s economy and fails to acknowledge China’s unremitting efforts in pursuing a sustainable economy through a series of adjustments.

Economics is an empirical science, yet some Westerners fix their focuses on the results derived from a fixed formula. Just as Financial Times columnist David Pilling points out, it is easy to "imagine China's economic train going off the rails" in the West.

Earlier this century, China’s banking system was declared “technically insolvent” by some Westerners, who even predicted it would drag drown China’s economy. Soon afterwards, China launched a new round of reform and the banking industry embraced rapid development.

Pat Buchanan, laureate of the Nobel Prize for Economics, once concluded that the achievements since China’s reform and opening up policy seem unreasonable from Western perspectives, but they work.

However, many presumptuous forecasts about China’s economy were not delivered via incorrect methodologies, but stem from either partial perspectives or market speculation. No matter what, they are all prejudiced against China, making them far from consistent with the real achievements and potential of the Chinese economy.

As Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Jeffery Sachs observed, in cliches adopted by billionaire investor George Soros and others, “one day China is the invincible new economic power; the next it can do nothing right”.

Clearly, some of these predictions of “collapse of China” are reached without fact-checking. A few were even motivated by personal interests. That is also how Soros short sold the Southeast Asian markets.

Going through economic transformation, China does face its own challenges. It is also tackling them in its own way. For some Westerners, pointing out these problems in an objective manner is a way to prevent risks, while the exaggeration by others will only create risks.

Such acts are not only harmful to China, but the world at large, especially in this age of the ‘global village’ where no country can survive alone.

Goldman Sachs recently proposed a hypothesis, saying that if China’s economic growth was 1 percent down, it would drag down the U.S. economy by 0.1 percent, directly or indirectly. With overreaction in the market, the figure could expand to 0.47 percent.

Economic analysis should always be conducted in a responsible manner, even if it is just a “chat” at an international event. False information could easily stir up market fluctuations.

Partial judgment also creates risks. If instant signals from the financial market one day affected the real economy, many countries would suffer from it. The public needs to stay alert to this. 

This article is edited and translated from “选择性失明”也是风险制造者（钟声）  

Source: People's Daily