Op-Ed Contributors
When will the US ever learn?
By Wang Yusheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-07 07:58
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The recent US-written-and directed farce in East Asia has a dazzlingly clear plot. It does exhibit the "writer-director's" habitual arrogance but belies its lack of confidence.
To consolidate its status in the East Asian region and seek "new partners", the US has to create a "great situation", albeit artificial, and it thinks the farce will come in handy for the job. To create a "great situation", it has to discredit China, which anyway is its favorite pastime.
The US has been distorting China's strategic objectives of modernizing its military such as the defense of its land and sea borders. By stirring up disputes, it creates situations in which it would be called, by itself of course, to act as the "guardian angel".
The American mainstream media have made a perfect show in this respect. They have spread rumors against China, bandied about the "China threat" and "China arrogance" theories, and criticized it for its "bad" diplomatic behavior and "aggressive" military strategy.
The latest trick to come out of the American media's sleeve is China's "not-so-good" relations with its neighbors such as Japan, South Korea and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially Vietnam.
South Korea and Vietnam seem to have bought the "China threat" theory story hook, line and sinker. Some uninformed overseas scholars have even asked why China's backyard catches fire so often.
But the fact is China doesn't have (and will never have) a "backyard". The China "backyard" theory is a figment of anti-China propagandists' imagination, and no different from the "China threat" and "China arrogance" theories.