"These track-suited men had been called vile, horrible, mysterious, robotic, unfeeling goons, thugs and monsters."

Brendan O'Neil editor of Spiked and contributor to New Statesman and The Spectator will explore the coded assaults of the Olympic Torch procession on Tuesday June 24th at 7.30pm at The Terraces on Brighton Seafront.

These track-suited men had been called vile, horrible, mysterious, robotic, unfeeling goons, thugs and monsters. A Daily Mail article speculated that, if the torch was extinguished, the guards would have had their bodily organs sold by the Chinese state on the Oriental organ market. These 15 men constituted an invasion of the west in some opinions. The Australian Prime Minister was praised for not allowing Chinese security for the Australian section of the torch procession, for preventing a Chinese invasion.

Brendon said these were examples of both a very old anti-Chinese prejudice and very recent concerns about the rise of China as a world power. There were three aspects of China-bashing that were most important and highlighted what lay behind it. First, there is a remarkable consensus about China itself constituting all kinds of problems. For Brendon, the most shocking thing was that views are so uniform across left-right divides and that accusations are expressed in such similar language by all. It is rare for western elites to speak with one voice on anything.

The second aspect was the blending of old ideas about the Chinese as invaders, unclean and numerous, with western fears about China's development. The gains of the industrial revolution that we enjoy are now seen as coming at a high price and there are widespread fears in the west about modernity and progress themselves.

Third, a sense of hysteria motivates China-bashing as if elites want to transform China into the moral opposite of the west. Old western ideas of China as a great pollutant, morally and physically, are combined with environmental concerns. The scares around Chinese-made toys containing lead that could damage western children are one example of this. The Olympics have been characterised as an invasion and the Chinese athletes described as automatons, aloof and inscrutable.

The new addition to these sorts of very old prejudices is a conception of China as 'the other', the other side of the west as it used to be. In the west we had development and progress and brought people off the land into cities. This development is now seen as damaging and so the Chinese are currently making mistakes that we in the west feel belong in the past. This concern about China is much more located in the western critique of its own modernity, than in China. China is not a moral opposite of the west and is being, very dangerously, slowly demonised, Brendon said.

Free Tibet because the Chinese have become Mad Men Questions and contributions raised included: Why isn't Chinese development seen as an opportunity? What about co-operation that goes on between the west and China?

There may be double standards in the west – condemning China for Tibet while invading Iraq – but China still represents some very real challenges and Tibet remains central, doesn't it? There is still the fact of China's rise, whatever the character of reactions to it in the west. It is surely not surprising western elites are worried?

Brendon says the west feels both hostility to China and jealousy: The west says 'Who do these Chinese think they are?' when another coal power station is opened yet Britain and its whole industry was built on coal. It is the change in Britain, that now sees coal as a dirty mistake that has changed most significantly – not just the fact of the industrialisation of China.

Brendon said China has not so far been held back by environmentalism. In the time it has taken Britain to argue about the site of its next runway, China has built the biggest airport in the world. The west can feel envious of the Chinese not being held back. Another example is the expansion of China into Africa. The various international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are committed to sustainable development on a low level with many conditions attached to aid. The Chinese treat Africans as adults in this respect in that they offer straight incentives to exploit African resources such as schools, hospitals, railways and universities.

Tibet, says Brendon, has become a very simple issue in the west featuring simple, child-like Tibetans heroically and spiritually resisting the barbarous Chinese imposition of railways and banks. Brendon expressed solidarity with Tibetan political activists but felt suspicious of the Free Tibet Movement (FTM) as it left people on the ground, Chinese and Tibetan, out of the discussion and seemed aimed at governments rather than those fighting for their rights in Tibet. Brendon felt solidarity with the country people coming into the cities of Tibet whose riots were embarrassing both the Dali Lama and the FTM because they did not fit the scenario of nice, spiritual people peacefully protesting.

The fact of China's rise, said Brendon, was not enough to explain the historical fears that had arisen. China has taken on something of the character of the US in the post-war period when the US became unpopular in Europe for being the vulgar, rising and consumer-based power.

Fears about China are not irrational and based on western ennui, surely?

The vocal members of the audience were clearly worried about China. Donald, who had bee in China recently working with the World Bank and the Chinese government, pointed out the rise of Chinese nationalism in recent years. Nick said we may have to learn Chinese, their cars will flood our roads and thousands of jobs could be lost so concerns about China could hardly be irrational. Cheri pointed out that the west nonetheless needs China and that therefore there was a demand for something to be done about Tibet. Kam pointed out that Chinese suppliers can now undercut other commercial interests on the market. Another said China was outperforming the west as a Communist state with extraordinarily centralised power but faced its own turn toward anti-Communism. Taking up the example of the airports, a woman pointed out that at least we still were able to protest and object to airports while in china these things were simply decided. Ruth envisioned a point where China's increased development would raise the costs of the goods we all buy. Donald stressed the authoritarian nature of the Chinese regime and its level of state control – prohibiting debates such as the one we were having – and that there were 70 million party members in China still trying to prevent such debate. A fashion for celebrating Christmas in china resulted in a world shortage of spruce trees last year. A bad harvest in China pushes up prices across the whole world. That's surely something to worry about?

Brendon had some sympathisers. I think that China is extremely authoritarian but I don't think its leaders are plotting the things that people in the west are worrying about. China's Communist Party runs the world's most rapidly developing capitalist economy. So what if we all drive Chinese cars? China develops in today's market, not in the nightmare past of England's industrialisation and it responds to and competes on that market, trying to develop its economy on the lines of the west. It wants to develop things like design consultancy in its economy. Geoff pointed out that there was a long tradition in the west of looking to the east for enlightenment of some kind. Look at Nepal, not Tibet, he said, because there the people have deposed their monarch. Tibet remains about the last place where a theocratic leader still claimed his throne. On China-bashing, Geoff said the extreme nature of the condemnation of China should be challenged because it is different from other international concerns and rested upon a notion of China being different that was inaccurate. Rob said he received an emailed picture of Chinese soldiers clearly dressing up as Tibetan monks accompanied by a commentary deploring China. The source of the image was a still from the set of a feature film where actors play soldiers who dress up as monks, and nothing whatsoever to do with the troubles of Tibet.

Brendon responded first on Tibet. Young Tibetans openly criticise the Dali Lama while disillusioned aristocrats in the west love him and what he represents for them. Riots that focus on modern living standards and Chinese benefits are embarrassing to the FTM and its supporters with an anti-modernist attitude. One of the things that seem to encourage Chinese nationalism is the stream of attacks on China coming from the western media – China-bashing can help directly drive it, against other dynamics in Chinese society where a waning of nationalism might have been anticipated.

Since the end of Communism, the west has actively been looking for some kind of external enemy to cohere itself. Anxiety on this question, said Brendon, was the overriding factor. The perception of historic failures in the west and disarray among its governments is more important to understanding the question of China than its own objectively fast development. The one-child policy in China was once rightly seen in the west as repressive but now meets with approval by those worried about overpopulation. The Olympic security guards have been described as '15 human vermin'. Most people don't see China like that but the demonisation is very dangerous and has to be challenged.

The west can't deliver a more democratic society at home so why trust it on China? Brendon said western manufacturing had been undermined at home long before it could be threatened by China. China deserved more clout in the world because of the number of people it represented. He described western criticisms of China as exhibiting breathtaking hypocrisy and a double form of racism. China was 'driving genocide in Darfur' because it had supplied arms there – therefore a posing combination of African savagery and Chinese immorality as the simple answer to that conflict. Western governments do all sorts of hypocritical things yet suddenly, in relation to China, they are seen as being able to deliver democracy or establish ethical business practices. Brendon finished with a call to challenge China-bashing and prevent the concerns that the western elites have from controlling what is thought about the important issues China raises.

The discussion showed how big the subject of China is and how much more there is to think about. Details of the Insti of tuteIdeas' Battle for China conference on Saturday July 12 are available below. Brendon O'Neil will be among the speakers at the event and the Brighton Salon would like to thank him for his speech and to everyone else who turned out.

The meeting was organised and chaired by Salon director Dan Travis and held at The Terraces on Madeira Road, Brighton. This report of the proceedings is the personal view of the Salon secretary Sean Bell. If your important point is missing from the above, or you have since thought of one, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Details and tickets for the Battle for China are available at: http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2008