Op-Ed Contributors

When will the US ever learn?

By Wang Yusheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-07 07:58

In fact, the so-called "backyard" is a byproduct of imperialism and colonialism, now found only in the US dictionary. It has its origin in the Monroe Doctrine. According to this doctrine, the US regards the whole of Latin America as a region under American influence, a region no one is allowed to encroach upon. The US has been following the doctrine to a T, which has been "perfected" by its neo-conservative wish to make every possible land on Earth its backyard.

China's policy makes it impossible for it to act the way American professor John J. Mearsheimer said it would: Once China grows powerful, it would describe its diplomatic strategies by adopting the parlance of idealism in exactly way like the US, and possess world rights to the maximum.

In complete contrast, what China has are friendly neighbors that, along with it, abide by the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the cooperative mechanisms of ASEAN, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Sino-Russian-Indian ties.

All these organizations and mechanisms are open and cooperative, and based on equality and mutual benefit. They do not target any country, and are in line with the non-aligned foreign policy that China has always followed.

As for the disputes (including those over territories with some East Asian countries), many of them are issues left over by history and geopolitical relations. China has already started negotiations, and is ready to extend them, for fair and equitable resolutions of these issues.

Therefore, the worries over China that the US has are totally unnecessary. Washington need no longer create imaginary "enemies". It's high time it eschewed the Monroe Doctrine of not allowing any country or group to flourish freely in the East Asian region and stopped stigmatizing China for "pursuing such a policy".