Constant US provocations on core Chinese interests threaten to herald head-on conflict: China Daily editorial

The resolution the House of Representatives unanimously passed last week condemning "the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory" was characteristic of how it has dramatized the incident.

Despite China's timely explanation of the balloon and its purpose, the US has chosen to showboat instead of handling it in a calm, professional and restrained manner.

As the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress said in a statement issued on Thursday, the House's resolution is nothing but malicious hype and clearly indicates that politicians in Congress are taking advantage of the incident to fan the flames of confrontation between the two countries.

Congress, as the resolution shows, has become a stage for China-bashing, but the Joe Biden administration is also no stranger to such antics.

On Wednesday, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told an event at the Brookings Institution think tank that the US was committed to supporting Taiwan and its ability to defend itself, saying that the administration "hopes that the PRC (People's Republic of China) does not use a visit by a member of Congress to Taiwan as a pretext for military action."

That Sherman, who gained first-hand knowledge of Beijing's unwavering stance on the Taiwan question during her visit to China in July 2021, can still make such an irresponsible remark on the most sensitive matter in Sino-US relations, demonstrates how casually, if not carelessly, the US side treats the core concerns that Beijing has repeatedly stressed the importance of.

Although the Chinese side takes seriously the commitments the US has made — that it does not seek a new Cold War with China; it does not aim to change China's system; the revitalization of its alliances is not targeted at China; it does not support "Taiwan independence"; and it has no intention of seeking conflict with China — politicians in Washington seem to only take it as an impromptu speech of the US president that has no binding power over them.

It is the lack of cohesion and consistency in the US political system that renders the tremendous efforts of the Chinese side to stabilize Sino-US relations a vain endeavor. There is apparently no such thing as the "guardrails" the Biden administration constantly calls for to properly manage risks in bilateral relations on the US side.

The Biden administration should realize that each of the provocations by the US side concerning China's core interests, be it by Congress, the government or the military, unavoidably erodes the US side's credibility as a whole, and accumulates risks for a head-on conflict which it claims it wants to avoid.