US should realize that now is not the time for its ploys and provocations: China Daily editorial

The forcible entry of US law-enforcers into China’s Consulate General in Houston, Texas, a property of China, on Friday afternoon unequivocally constitutes an open violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the Sino-US Consular Treaty.

Yet Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China's response will be "legitimate", which means Beijing will not be led astray by its stoop-to-new-lows opponent.

Since they founded diplomatic relations in 1979, the diplomatic channels between the two countries have hitherto remained unhindered, even during the most difficult times. These channels have served as an important means to deepen exchanges, eliminate misunderstandings and avoid misjudgments.

Maintaining diplomatic contacts has been an unspoken consensus of the two sides, as neither wanted the two sides to go back to the previous state of hostile estrangement.

That consensus has been based on not only their tangible common interests, but also their shared recognition of their responsibilities to the world.

True, the current US administration has demonstrated its ability to adapt all the tricks previous administrations have employed to smear, contain and overthrow other countries, and apply them to China.

Nevertheless, its targeting of the consulate in Houston is a dangerous move that none of its predecessors had taken against China, indicating that it is ready to block a basic communication channel and further escalate tensions.

With its China policy characterized by McCarthyist-like bigotry, the US administration has become eager to turn a partner of more than 40 years into a heinous chief culprit overnight. Holding China not only accountable for all the sufferings of the US, but also warning the rest of the world if they don't join it, they will ultimately stew in their own China-partnering juices.

However, its scaremongering does not accord with reality, as the world has benefited tremendously from China’s socioeconomic development.

The unlawfulness of the number of measures it has taken to throttle China, as well as the practical damage its "America first" behavior has inflicted on global endeavors to tackle common challenges have all exposed how small-minded and short-sighted the US administration is.

With the presidential election drawing near, it is its failure to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus at home, making the largest developed economy the worst hit country in the world, that has directly prompted the administration to go to such extremes in trying to discredit China, an intensifying of an already planned election strategy.

And as the justifications for the US administration's escalating provocations show, arguments can always be found to turn desire into policy.

Undoubtedly, the US administration's China policy is made and executed by political speculators who know little about China, and whose policy is formed by long-implanted ideological biases and preconceptions.

Unfortunately, the world is paying the price for their childish impulses.