By Li Hongmei
The United States should be just as concerned as other countries about resurgence of Japanese militarism, China's ambassador to Washington said, hinting that the United States should not offer Japan encouragement in its dispute with China over the Diaoyu Islands in East China Sea.
Beijing last month protested a voyage by 10 boats carrying Japanese right wingers into waters near the islands.
While tensions flared between Japan and China and South Korea last month after Japanese lawmakers visited a shrine seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
"What kind of message does this send to the international community?" Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador in Washington, was cited as saying in a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
"All this has attracted plenty of international attention, and I believe that it cannot be unbeknownst to the U.S. ," Cui said.
"The U.S. side should stay alert against the recent provocative actions taken by Japanese political leaders," Xinhua news agency cited Cui as saying, in a separate report.
Japan was "clearly" the one acting provocatively over the islands, not China, he added.
Cui also warned the U.S. would be hoist with its petard if it insisted on fueling Japan's swelling appetite for territorial expansion.
"We hope that other parties do not lift up rocks for the Japanese, and we hope even more that these rocks don't end up falling on their own feet," Cui said, in apparent reference to the remarks defying facts made by the U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday, in which Hagel stressed that Washington is against any action to "weaken Japan's administrative control of the disputed islands in the East China Sea."
Finally, Cui expressed the hope that "Washington will avoid repeating the same mistake by sacrificing its long-term benefits for immediate short-term needs on the issue of the Diaoyu Islands", Xinhua added.
The United States has reportedly expressed in response that it will not take position on the island dispute between China and Japan.
