The seemingly never-ending fiasco of Terminal 5 in London's Heathrow has succeeded in eclipsing the astounding success of Terminal 3 in Beijing.

Coincidentally, T5 in London opened for partial operations on March 27, just a day after T3 in Beijing opened for full operations on March 26. But the difference and the contrast could not have been greater and sharper. Just as T5 in London has been plagued with shocking failures, agonizing plights over missing luggage and stranded passengers ready to erupt like a smoking volcano, T3 in Beijing has been operating almost without a glitch and is as smooth as silk and as sweet as honey.

While T5 in London could handle 1.2 million bags an hour, T3 in Beijing could handle 2 million. While T5 in London would add 30 million passengers per year, T3 in Beijing would add more. While T5 in London mostly services British Airways, T3 in Beijing services Air China and two dozen other airlines.

Amazingly, as the largest terminal in the world with one million square meters, T3 in Beijing is much larger than T5 in London, but has been much less costly to build. Using the most recent exchange rates, it cost only 1.9 billion euro compared with T5's 4.3 billion euro. T3 in Beijing also took much less time to complete - less than four years - than T5 in London, which took almost 20 years from designing to partial completion.

Whereas T5 in London was opened by no less a person than Queen Elizabeth II, T3 in Beijing was opened by only a vice mayor of Beijing. Those critics of China who believe China is bent upon showcasing itself to the world through the Beijing Olympics may be puzzled why China has not seized such a golden opportunity to showcase T3 in Beijing with great fanfare. Alas, these critics may have forgotten that great achievements do not need showcasing; they are there for everyone to see.

What really amazes me is that among the crowds of passengers hurrying through T3 in Beijing to their destinations, those local Chinese passengers rarely pause to marvel at the brand-new architectural masterpiece. They seem to have taken it for granted, as if it should have been there to start with.

If someone is tempted to call the success of T3 in Beijing as China's success only, I think his parochialism simply misses a fundamental point. After all, T3 in Beijing was designed by a Briton and has incorporated the most recent trends and styles and standards in the world. T3 in Beijing is as much Chinese as it is international. Its success is as much for China as for the whole mankind.

But for those who want to dismiss China's great strides forward over the past three decades, a cool-headed comparison between T3 in Beijing and T5 in London will expose fully their self-imposed ignorance. Those who refuse to face reality by clinging to ideological stereotypes will have an almost impossible task in making sense of the explosive productivity which has been the hallmark of China over the past three decades.

The fundamental reason behind China's rapid rise is that ever since the end of the 1970s, China has convinced itself that peace and stability are the most important preconditions for development, and anything which may distract China from its focus on peace, stability and development will be strongly resisted. This may help explain why T3 in Beijing is such an astounding success, and why the Chinese nation is now more united than ever before in condemning those attempts to hijack the Olympics or the Olympic torch relay by people with ulterior motives.

I hope when millions of overseas passengers, including a couple of millions this summer during the Beijing Olympics (counting both arrivals and departures), pass through T3, they will pause and reflect upon the great distance China has already traveled over the past three decades in its reform and opening to the outside world. Granted, China still needs to travel great distances and will need all the help it can get. But do not refuse to admit that China's mission to turn a nation of 1.3 billion people with 5,000 years of continuous civilization from a developing country into a developed country through peace and free trade is a great and honorable saga in human history.

Even those who have ulterior motives against China, either wanting to dismiss the country, vilify it, humiliate it, degrade it or even split it, will be better served if they too care to pause and look at T3 in Beijing and seriously ponder the futility of their attempts.

As for me who have not yet been to T5 in London, I sincerely hope its woes will soon vanish and it will indeed become "a 21st century gateway for Britain" as Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed. I am sure in due course, T5 in London will be as much a success as T3 in Beijing. Moreover, I hope they both will become gateways to greater peace and understanding among all the people in the world.