With a friend like Washington... : China Daily editorial

Although the Republic of Korea has tried to play down any possibility of a rift with the United States over media reports that US intelligence agencies eavesdropped on its top officials' discussions about Ukraine, the issue could still crop up and even overshadow ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol's upcoming visit to the US later this month.

Since taking office, the Yoon government has adopted a foreign policy that draws it closer to its Western allies, especially Washington, and distances itself from its Asian neighbor, China. The latest leaked documents should serve as a wake-up call to Seoul that in the US alliance system, it can never become an equal, respected partner.

Referring to the spying allegation as "not a confirmed matter", the ROK's presidential office said in a statement on Sunday that the country "will review past precedents and cases from other countries to come up with countermeasures, and will hold consultations with the US on the issue".

Given its current pro-US stance, the Yoon government clearly does not want the surveillance issue to snowball into a diplomatic spat. But for the public in the ROK, the fact that the Pentagon's leaked confidential documents reveal that the US is not only deeply involved in the Ukraine crisis but also its intelligence community is conducting surveillance and eavesdropping on its own allies, is something hard to chew.

From Edward Snowden to Julian Assange, revelations of the US spying on its allies have repeatedly been exposed in the global spotlight in recent years, indicating the US intelligence community has long woven a global web in which no country and no individual, including the leaders of its allies, is spared from the US surveillance.

Despite its self-proclaimed role as the beacon of freedom and democracy, the US is an empire of spooks unscrupulously wielding its monopolistic technological might to conduct cyber espionage, surveillance and even attacks on foreign governments, enterprises and individuals, in flagrant violation of international law and the basic norms of international relations.

Each time another incident is revealed, it only highlights the extent to which the US' cyber tentacles have ensnared the world. Each time it further erodes the credibility of the US administration's claims of shared values.

In an increasingly turbulent world which is being fueled by the US-instigated bloc confrontation, it seems not even its allies can escape the eyes of the US intelligence community, which, in the name of safeguarding US national security, is constantly compromising the national security of other countries.