US, Japan wrong to blame China for air zone

BEIJING - China's announcement to establish an Air Defense Identification Zone in East China Sea has drawn criticism from the United States and Japan, yet their blame is wrong.

Their logic is simple: they can do it while China can not, which could be described with a Chinese saying, "the magistrates are free to burn down houses while the common people are forbidden even to light lamps."

It is known to all that the United States is among the first to set up an air defense zone in 1950, and later more than 20 countries have followed suit, which Washington has taken for granted.

However, as soon as China started to do it, Washington immediately voiced various "concerns." US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday voiced concerns over the zone, fearing it might "constitute an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea," and a White House spokesman on Monday called the Chinese announcement over the weekend "unnecessarily inflammatory."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary session that China's setup of the zone was a "profoundly dangerous act that may cause unintended consequences." And both Tokyo and Washington said that they would not respect the Chinese demarcation.

Japan set up such a zone in the 1960s and it even one-sidedly allowed the zone to cover China's Diaoyu Islands. But when China set up the zone covering the Diaoyu Islands, Tokyo immediately announced it "unacceptable" and Abe even called China's move "dangerous." It is totally absurd and unreasonable.

In one word, both Washington and Tokyo are pursuing double standards.

The Diaoyu Islands issue is obviously the core to the issue of the air defense zone. It is known to all that the Japanese side is responsible for worsening the situation and jeopardizing the stability in East Asia at large, and that China is forced to respond to safeguard its territorial integrity.

In their statements, both Washington and Tokyo accused China of undermining the stability of the Asia-Pacific region by so doing, but in fact, it is Washington and Tokyo that pose threat to the peace and stability in the region.

US National Security Advisor Susan Rice recently reiterated that Washington is to send 60 percent of its naval forces to the Pacific region and it is to provide more advanced weapons to its armed forces in the region.

For Japan, Abe has taken a series of worrisome actions, including increasing Japan's military budget for the first time in 11 years, staging more military exercises and even openly announcing the intention to revise Japan's pacifist constitution.

The Diaoyu Islands are an inherent part of the Chinese territory and it is natural for China's East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone to cover the area.

Therefore, it is Washington and Tokyo who are indulging in the trick of calling white black. It is high time they stopped doing so.