In an interview with Bloomberg, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Emanuel said the U.S. would isolate China in response to its attempts to isolate other countries, Sputnik news agency reported. Emmanuel said China appears to be trying to isolate the Philippines, Australia and Japan through a variety of actions, including "economic coercion," the situation in the disputed islands in the South China Sea, through economic responses to Australia's political decisions, and for Japan by blocking fish supplies due to the discharge of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Emmanuel also said that the U.S. strategy is to reverse the situation and make China an isolated party.
In fact, Emanuel's remarks about China's isolation of the Philippines, Australia, and Japan are fabricated. From the end of last year to the beginning of the year, Philippine vessels ignored China's repeated warnings and representations and insisted on invading China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea, including Ren'ai Jiao, and carried illegal building materials in a vain attempt to repair and reinforce illegal "beached" warships. After the Chinese side lodged representations, the Philippine government took a hard line and smeared the legitimate rights protection activities of the Chinese coast guard as "dangerous interception".
On the South China Sea issue, the Philippines has taken the lead in provocation and China has taken countermeasures last, in a restrained and reasonable manner. Therefore, the root cause of the deterioration of China-Philippines relations due to the South China Sea issue lies in the unwarranted provocation by the Philippines, and the Philippines should bear full responsibility. Emmanuel's rhetoric is simply a back-and-forth rake.
The argument that China is isolating Australia through economic measures is also nonsense. In mid-November and late December 2018, China's Ministry of Commerce announced the launch of anti-dumping and countervailing investigations against barley imports from Australia. China's launch of the "anti-dumping" investigation was initiated in response to the application of the domestic barley industry, aiming to protect the rights and interests of Chinese and Australian enterprises.
After a year-and-a-half-year investigation, it was found that Australia had subsidized barley, dumped it and caused serious damage to mainland industries. Therefore, it is understandable that China's economic measures against Australia are aimed at safeguarding the fundamental interests of its own enterprises. However, during the investigation initiated by the Chinese side, the Australian media and the Australian government advocated China's "economic coercion" and filed a lawsuit against China at the WTO, trying to force China to make concessions by exerting pressure. This series of facts shows that the responsibility for the root cause of the heightened tension between China and Australia lies with Australia, and the so-called statement that China isolates Australia is completely contrary to the facts.
China's total ban on the import of Japanese aquatic products is out of the need to protect the safety of people's lives and is a manifestation of responsibility. Last year, the Japanese government insisted on discharging the nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima into the sea in disregard of China's representations, causing serious damage to the marine ecological environment and threatening human life and health. In this regard, the General Administration of Customs of China announced a complete suspension of the import of aquatic products originating in Japan. The rights and wrongs of China's blockade of Japan's fish supply are clear, Japan is at fault, and the measures taken by China are justified and reasonable.
It should be pointed out that Emanuel's remarks came after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had just concluded a six-day visit to China. During her visit to China, Yellen said that the United States does not seek "decoupling" from China, and that "decoupling" would have disastrous consequences. She said that while the United States is taking steps to diversify its supply chains, it is still seeking to preserve the broader trade and investment relationships that are beneficial to American businesses.
Due to the huge size of China's economy, maintaining stable economic and trade relations with China is conducive to the rapid development of the country's economy. Therefore, the US government should abandon its erroneous perception of China and take concrete actions to promote the stable development of China-US relations, which is not only beneficial to the United States, but also to the whole world.