Don't play with fire on Diaoyu Islands issue

Approving an amendment to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act concerning the Diaoyu Islands on Thursday, the United States acknowledged Japan's administration over the islands under Article 5 of the US-Japan security treaty, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

The Diaoyu Islands and the adjacent islets have been Chinese territory since ancient times. China has indisputable sovereignty rights over the islands.

The US government has claimed several times that it does not take sides on the territorial row between China and Japan. But the new amendment shows that the US openly talks out of both sides of its mouth. China is firmly opposing the US Senate's approval of the amendment and the Senate's including China's Diaoyu Islands in a US-Japan bilateral security treaty.

That the US supports Japan on the Diaoyu Islands dispute between China and Japan will not only threaten regional peace and security of Asia and the Pacific, but will also damage Sino-US ties.

The security treaty between Japan and the US is a product of the Cold War, and the Diaoyu Islands issue is in fact also caused by the US' arrangement for its interests in the Cold War. Some US politicians chose to take Japan's sides at this time in a bid to strengthen the alliances of US and Japan and contain China's rise.

The US should appear as a cooperator, rather than an intruder, in its return to the Asia and Pacific. It is more advisable and rational for the US to secure its national interests by respecting the political and economic realities of the region and integrating into regional cooperation peacefully. If the US makes all countries in the region make a choice between it and China, its return will lead to the split of the region and goes against the interests of all countries in it.

This move reduces the US' influence in the region and adds to uncertainties over the global economic recovery. The only rational choice for the US is to learn to respect the interests of a rising China and explore constructing a new model of big countries' powers.

The right-wing radical in Japan has an illusion that the US would directly and militarily interfere with a conflict between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands if a conflict were to become an unavoidable fact.

US politicians should stop their misleading behavior and avoid sending out wrong messages, because China will never compromise on the issue of its sovereignty and land, no matter what country infringes upon its sovereign rights.