Creating China bogeyman won't rid US of spying scandal pain

It is unjustified, much less helpful, for some US officials to create a China bogeyman to shake off their own bad feel about their country's disclosed spying scandal.

Last week, US Congressman Mike Rogers told members of the European Parliament in Brussels that if the European Union (EU) continued the "muddling" of debate on the US snooping on European citizens and institutions, it might "help China spy on European and American companies."

Reportedly claiming that Chinese cyber espionage has already cost the US economy some 400 billion US dollars, the congressman called for forming a "united front against industrial espionage from China."

The remarks were instantly slammed as "ridiculous" by the Chinese Mission to the EU, which said certain parties should address their own problems properly, rather than attempting to divert the world's concerns by making unprofessional and irresponsible charges.

Instead of offering a sincere "sorry," Washington found fighting terrorism as an excuse to paper over its long-time habitual eavesdropping on its own people, foreign citizens and even leaders alike.

What's worse, to call black white, some US officials did not hesitate to drag China, the world's second largest economy and an imaginary enemy of Washington, into the mire.

Not long ago, the United States has accused the Chinese military of launching cyber espionage to "steal proprietary economic and trade information" of foreign countries, and that public exposure had not led China to "change its attitude."

The unfounded charge was rebutted by Beijing, which, in fact, is a major victim of cyber attacks and strives to promote international cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect and trust to formulate cyberspace code of conduct under the framework of the United Nations.

And those who played up anti-China rhetoric on the issue of cyber espionage might have also forgotten that Edward Snowden, the US security whistleblower, disclosed that US spy agencies had hacked deep into China's computer networks, including those of government, military, research, educational and business organizations.

Self-reflection, rather than self-deception, is certainly more useful when trust is to be retrieved.

Therefore, should the United States have real interest in protecting cyber security and information security at large, it should behave itself in the first place, and abandon the amateur tricks of beating about the bush.