When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Europe recently, he mentioned a word that can mean one thing to the Chinese and another to the English-speaking world, with a significant difference in its implications.

That word in English was "crisis". But its equivalent in Chinese is "weiji" (危機(jī)), which actually translates as "crisis and opportunity". Therefore, what the English-speaking people see as a crisis, the Chinese see as a crisis and opportunity.

The difference is very meaningful in today's world, to such an extent I recommend we use "crisistunity" as a new English word to replace "crisis" when circumstances dictate.

There is no doubt that the financial crisis, which originated in the United States, is creating havoc in almost every country across the world. So far, in China alone, at least 20 million migrant workers have lost their jobs. The crisis is real, deep, dire and devastating. The pain and suffering is acute and may be protracted.

Without doubt, it is a crisis of unprecedented proportion. But what is even more alarming is that protectionism, often camouflaged in various disguises, is raising its ugly head in some circles.

In dealing with the global downturn, shall we just deal with it as a crisis or, as such, just discard and trample the fundamental principles of free trade? Well, in a triage, anything goes, some may argue.

However, this approach will tempt countries to erect walls of protectionism in the belief they will save themselves at their neighbor's expense. Those who have such a misconceived belief need only look at the Great Depression to see that these walls usually go on to bury those who build them.

The other option would be to treat the problems as a crisistunity, seeing not only the crisis but also the opportunity.

With such perception we can exercise great prudence, restraint and mutual assistance in dealing with the crisis without violating our fundamental principles of free trade. We can resist the temptation of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We can see the silver lining in every dark cloud. We can see that by upholding the banner of free trade there will be a better tomorrow, no matter how hard and bitter today is.

With the right perception, where there is crisis, there must be opportunity. This is true in our personal lives, in our corporate affairs, in the evolution of society, in the development of civilization, in the growth of a nation and, increasingly, in the progress of our tiny global village.

Let us see a crisis as a crisistunity. Let's call a crisis a crisistunity. Let's deal with a crisis as a crisistunity.

In this way, free trade and market economy will have a better chance of triumphing over protectionism, and the world we live in will be a better global village for all.