THE former prime minister Paul Keating has attacked the Western media's coverage of the Beijing Olympics as condescending, elitist and typical of the developed world's general disdain for China.

Most of the coverage was seen through the prism of Tibet, Mr Keating told the Melbourne Writers' Festival at the weekend, and disregarded the "massive leaps" forward in areas such as poverty alleviation and declining infant mortality.

"In a Western and elitist way, we have viewed China's right to its Olympic Games, to its 'coming out', its moment of glory, with condescension and concessional tolerance," Mr Keating said.

"The Western critic, feeling the epicentre of the world changing but not at all liking it, seeks to put down these vast societies on the basis that their political and value systems don't match up to theirs."

In a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy, Mr Keating was critical of the lack of action taken by the world in getting rid of nuclear weapons, saying proliferation was the "single most immediate threat hanging over the world today".