A U.S. expert on foreign policy Tuesday lashed out at a recent report by The New York Times on South China Sea, saying its biased attacks against China are "hawkish" and "unjustifiable."
In his column on Sino-U.S. Spotlight Online, Ben Reynolds said that the editorial published by The New York Times does not hold water for the following reasons.
First, the report titled "Playing Chicken in the South China Sea" and published on May 21 echoes the prevailing hawkish perspective of the U.S. policymakers, who severely exaggerated China's threat to the region and the United States and supported tough steps against China in the South China Sea issue.
Second, the report's vaguely depicted "rich resources" in the South China Sea are either strategically irrelevant to Washington or outside the disputed waters.
Third, all parties concerned in the South China Sea issue do not believe that China's territorial claims will threat the sea routes. In this sense, the U.S.-preached navigation freedom is not an issue.
Fourth, the report's accusation of "China's most aggressive and outrageous tactic," referring to its land reclamation and infrastructure construction in the South China Sea, has selectively neglected the fact that the U.S. allies and rival claimants in the region have also been engaged in such activities. It is their actions that are mainly responsible for the region's militarization.
Fifth, the report's attack on China's increasing defense budget has also overlooked the fact that the U.S. military spending in 2015 has tripled that of China to the stunning 60.1 billion U.S. dollars. Washington also announced planned deployment of at least 60 percent of its navy and air forces to the Asia-Pacific region, which, apparently, will not be devoted only to humanitarian missions.
The United States have conducted routine patrols and surveillance of China right off China's coast lines.
Last but not the least, the report's conclusion that accused China of trying to rewrite the international rules has once again committed selective amnesia as for Obama's support of Japan, which has once invaded many Asian nations and slaughtered their people in the 1940s.
The U.S. mainstream media like The New York Times have instinctively believed in their government's foreign policies, until they were proved erroneous by a number of facts time and time again, Reynolds said, noting that their reports of China and the South China Sea issue have been based on unjustifiable arguments and deliberate ignorance of facts.
The U.S. media tend to weigh up China's activities out of prejudice, in ignorance of the reasons and consequences of their reports, the experts said.
He added that until these media outlets readjust their points of the U.S. China policy, the public is obliged to correct their dangerous and twisted opinions, which, if let unchecked, will only escalate the hostility between the two peoples.
