By Zhang Siyuan
章思远
Recently, the US and its allies have made frequent moves in the Asia-Pacific region. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the US, and the first-ever trilateral summit among the US, Japan and the Philippines was held in Washington. The US-Japan Joint Leaders' Statement and the Joint Vision Statement from the Leaders of Japan, the Philippines, and the US both contain groundless accusations and malicious smears against China. The sinister motives of the US and its allies to contain China with small cliques have surfaced.
近期，美国及其盟友在亚太地区动作频频。日本首相岸田文雄访美，美日菲在华盛顿举行首次三边峰会。《美日领导人联合声明》《日菲美领导人共同愿景声明》中都包含一些对中国的无端指责和恶意抹黑。美盟“抱团遏华”的险恶用心昭然若揭。
The US publicly stated that cooperation with its allies and partners is not aimed at China, but in fact, the various small cliques led by the US have become increasingly confrontational against China, which has become the biggest threat to regional peace and stability. Ignoring the consensus reached under the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the reality of regional peace and stability, the US, Japan and the Philippines have frequently threatened China with the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty and the US-Japan Security Treaty, and slandered the China Coast Guard (CCG)'s professional maritime law enforcement in a calm and restrained manner as "dangerous and aggressive behavior". The US and Japan took advantage of the trilateral summit and the US-Japan-Australia-Philippines joint maritime patrol in the South China Sea to embolden the Philippines' provocative actions in the South China Sea. It is precisely due to the support of major powers outside the region that the Philippines dares to act recklessly, repeatedly sending ships to illegally intrude into the surrounding waters of China's Ren'ai Jiao, and staging a "swoop-and-squat accident" with vessels of the CCG. In addition, the US deliberately exaggerates the "China threat" theory to create anxiety and tension, and turns the originally peaceful Asia-Pacific region into a geopolitical arena to contain China.
美国曾公开表示美与盟友伙伴合作“不针对中国”，然而以美国为首的各种“小圈子”对华阵营对抗色彩愈发浓厚，已成为地区和平稳定的最大威胁。美日菲罔顾《南海各方行为宣言》共识和地区和平稳定的现实，动辄拿《美菲共同防御条约》《美日安保条约》威胁中国，将中国海警冷静克制专业的海上执法污蔑为“危险和侵略行为”。美日借三边峰会和美日澳菲南海联合巡航为菲律宾在南海挑衅打气壮胆。正是仗着有拉偏架的域外大国撑腰，菲律宾才敢胡作非为，一再派船非法闯入中国仁爱礁附近海域，并上演冲撞中国海警船的“碰瓷”闹剧。美国肆意渲染“中国威胁”制造焦虑紧张，把原本安宁的亚太地区当成了与中国博弈的“地缘角斗场”。
Those US-led small cliques seem to be on the rise, but the domineering style of the US and its attempts to fan the flames in the region actually fail to win support from the majority of the international community. The US' behavior in the Ukraine crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has made people around the world realize the hypocrisy of the American-style democracy. The narrative of "democracy versus authoritarianism" peddled by the US is full of loopholes and has only a few followers. In the US, there are many severe problems such as the partisan conflict, high public debt, and immigration crisis. In this context, the American-style democracy has been increasingly questioned and criticized.
美式“小圈子”看似热热闹闹，但美唯我独尊的霸道作风和煽风点火的言行实在不得人心。美国在乌克兰危机、巴以冲突中的表现已经让世界人民看透了美式民主的虚伪。美国四处兜售的“民主对抗威权”叙事漏洞百出、应者寥寥。美国国内的党争、举债、移民危机等弊病已积重难反，“美式民主”受到越来越多的质疑和批判。
Unlike the US, which is eager to form closed and exclusive small cliques in the Asia-Pacific region, China has deepened friendly cooperation with neighboring countries in the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and embarked on a new path of building an Asian community of shared future. China and ASEAN have been each other's largest trading partners for four consecutive years. According to The State of Southeast Asia: 2024 Survey Report released on April 2 by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore-based think tank, since 2019, people in South Asian countries have regarded China as the country with the greatest economic and political influence on Southeast Asia, and more than half of the respondents expressed optimism about the prospects of their countries' relations with China. Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents who spoke positively of the US-led "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" fell from 46.5 percent last year to 40.4 percent.
与美国在亚太地区大搞封闭排他“小圈子”不同，中国秉持亲诚惠容理念，深化同周边国家的友好合作，走出了一条共建亚洲命运共同体的新路。中国与东盟已连续4年互为最大贸易伙伴。新加坡智库尤索夫伊萨东南亚研究院4月2日发布的《东南亚态势报告：2024》显示，中国自2019年以来一直被东南亚人视为在经济和政治上对东南亚最具影响力的国家，对所属国家对华关系前景表示乐观的受访者均超过了半数。积极评价美国主导的“印太经济框架”（IPEF）的受访者由去年的46.5%降到了今年的40.4%。
In fact, Chinese people don't care how the US and its allies and partners interact. However, they have targeted China on a wide range of issues and showed that they wouldn't hesitate to strengthen their alliances and partnerships at the expense of China's interests. China resolutely opposes bloc politics manipulated by a few countries, any practice that provokes and intensifies conflict and harms the strategic security and interests of other countries, and any attempt to form closed and exclusive small cliques in the Asia-Pacific region.
中国人本无意理会美国和盟友伙伴如何互动，但其事事针对中国、挑明了不惜以损害中国利益为代价加强“盟伴合作”。中国坚决反对有关国家操弄集团政治，坚决反对任何挑起和激化矛盾、损害他国战略安全和利益的做法，坚决反对在本地区搞封闭排他的“小圈子”。
The Asia-Pacific region should become a grand stage for countries to promote cooperation, instead of a gladiatorial arena for confrontation. The US and its allies should discard the Cold War mentality, give up the idea of seeking selfish benefits by creating bloc confrontation, earnestly respect the aspirations of the people of the Asia-Pacific region for peace, development and cooperation, and jointly maintain the hard-won peace and stability and the sound momentum for development in the region.
亚太地区应该成为各国促进合作的大舞台，而不是挑起对抗的角斗场。美国和其盟友国家应摒弃冷战思维，趁早打消通过制造阵营对抗生乱谋利的念头，切实尊重亚太地区各国人民求和平、谋发展、促合作的愿望，共同维护来之不易的和平稳定局面和良好发展势头。
(The author is an observer on international affairs.)
（作者是国际问题观察员）
Editor's note: Originally published on people.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
