Washington wants to maintain primacy in Asia Pacific

Veteran diplomat Fu Ying struck a chord among Chinese when she pointed out the double standards adopted by the United States on the South China Sea issue. Fu told a gathering at the University of Chicago last week that China sees inconsistencies at play. "When China's neighbors act provocatively on territorial issues, the US turns its head away. Yet when China defends its interests, it is described either as assertive or as a bully," said Fu, now chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

The US has been making a lot of noise these days about China's land reclamations on some isles and reefs in the South China Sea. US State Department officials have blamed the Chinese for the rising tensions, Pentagon officials have vowed to send military aircraft and vessels to closely patrol the area, while Senator John McCain has said China should not be invited to the 2016 RIMPAC (the Rim of the Pacific Exercise), the world's largest naval war games.

Yet none of them said anything when countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam reclaimed land earlier and on more outposts than China is doing now. US Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear told a Senate hearing two weeks ago that in the Nansha (Spratly) Islands, Vietnam has 48 outposts, the Philippines 8, China 8, Malaysia 5, and China's Taiwan 1.