Part of America's propaganda war tactic is to spread the lie of the "China threat." Its media kept accusing China of "assertiveness." They claim that China has become increasingly assertive as it becomes more powerful.

In the latest example, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called China's oil drilling in its own territorial waters in the South China Sea "provocative." It is utter nonsense.

In every territorial dispute, be it in the East China Sea or the South China Sea, it is China's territory that is being nibbled away by an ally of the United States. Not the other way round.

China's principled stand is: It never claims what does not belong to China; it never cedes what does belong to China.

China does not make trouble; it is not afraid of trouble.

China will never fire the first shot; but will certainly fire back when attacked. "We will not attack unless we are attacked; if we are attacked we will certainly counterattack."

China pursues a good-neighbor policy, offering friendship and goodwill, cooperation and a win-win outcome in all dealings. That is why the troublemaking by Vietnam and the Philippines at the ASEAN meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, trying to harm China's friendship with ASEAN, got nowhere.

Behind the troublemakers is of course their instigator-manipulator, the United States, the hegemon that is losing its touch. Even U.S. officials now fret about the country's inability to either ensure stability in general or specific outcomes favored by the Obama administration. Its war chief Chuck Hagel conceded that the U.S. may not be perceived internationally as being quite as powerful as it had been in the past.

There is no reason for Washington to get involved in these territorial disputes. They are none of its business. So it hypocritically declares that it takes no position on those disputes, which is an obvious lie. Its only excuse for getting involved is so-called freedom of navigation, which has never been a problem.

Japan and the Philippines are mere chess pieces which Washington places on the Pacific chess board. They serve as hired thugs who keep stirring up trouble to hamper China's growth. They are nuisances that China has to deal with. But after Syria and Crimea, they have deep fears that their patron may not be so reliable.

That was why Obama recently visited them to assure them of Big Brother's backing. And he further strengthened military ties with both countries, in a truly provocative way that angered China.

So encouraged, the Philippine maritime police brazenly hijacked a Chinese fishing boat, the Qiongqionghai 09063, carrying eleven Chinese fishermen near the Half Moon Shoal of the Nansha Islands. Manila claimed that the fishing boat entered the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. But the Half Moon Shoal area is indisputably within China's territorial waters.

Manila has now put some of the Chinese fishermen on trial. That surely cannot be end of the story. "It is no propriety not to reciprocate," as the Chinese saying goes. So let's wait and see what happens next.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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