Australia, Canada must drop dangerous provocations

Recently, Australia and Canada have repeatedly sent their military jets for inflammatory close-in reconnaissance near China's airspace, and complained China's countermeasures to protect its own sovereignty and security.

Such a game of provocation first and then condemnation is nothing new. The United States has always used this tactic to hype up the so-called China threat in the South China Sea. Now Canberra and Ottawa seem want to follow suit.

For the record, China's responses are safe and professional. Pretending to be pathetic, however, will not conceal the perilous intention of the two Five Eyes members, which is to stoke tensions and even confrontation.

Australia and Canada must be aware of how China responded in the face of US provocations in their previous encounters. If they thought they would be treated differently, they now have learned a lesson.

Also, their outright lies will not change the fact they are the ones who flew thousands of miles away from their own shores to make waves at China's doorstep under an excuse that is dubious at best.

Take Canada. The country claimed that its military aircraft were implementing UN Security Council sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

As a matter of fact, UN Security Council resolutions have never mandated any country to deploy forces and conduct surveillance operations in jurisdictional air and sea areas of other countries for the purpose of identifying sanctions evasion activities.

With no valid cause, who knows what Canada was trying to spy on by inviting itself so close to China's airspace. But one thing is clear: the two countries' dangerous activities are detrimental to regional peace and stability.

These actions also pose new challenges to their troubled relations with China. In fact, thanks to the irresponsible rhetoric and behavior of some politicians back in Australia and Canada over the past years, their ties with China have already encountered serious setbacks.

Actually, healthy and stable China-Canada and China-Australia relations conform to their common interests. As Geoff Raby, former Australian ambassador to China, has pointed out, ties between the Australian and Chinese people are very strong, and the two countries share interests as well.

Australia and Canada should quit testing China's resolve on defending its territorial sovereignty and national security. If they continue, they will be responsible for all consequences.

More importantly, they should abandon confrontational thinking and adopt an independent and practical China policy that is truly in the interests of their people, so that it is possible for their relationships with China to overcome the current difficulties and get back on the right track.