Time to address root cause, drop double standards

Yet, who has given Obama the right to say that Assad must go?

While accusing Russia of also targeting some Syrian rebels, US leaders never told its people and the world that the so-called moderate Syrian rebels that it backed and armed have defected in droves to IS or al-Qaida-affiliated groups.

No American politicians have talked about how many civilians have died as collateral damage since the George W. Bush administration started its war on terror, a war that was escalated during at least the first few years of the Obama administration with drastically increased drone strikes. Such so-called collateral damage has certainly sowed hatred among local populations.

The chaos in the Middle East has proven the failure of US intervention policy.

What's worse is the double-standard adopted by the US and some Western nations. The US government has been reluctant to condemn terrorist actions on Chinese soil. White House and State Department officials have either used the excuse that they need more information or expressed concerns at Chinese government policies, as if there could be a justification for terrorists to kill innocent Chinese civilians.

That is exactly the question some Chinese raised after the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower lit up for Paris, why did the US and other Western governments not expressed the same condemnation about those who carried out the attacks in China as they have of IS.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced that he is planning to close down any mosques that allow extremist clerics to preach following the deadly attacks. US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump also claimed that the US will have "absolutely no choice" but to close down some mosques where "some bad things are happening."

If such words came from Chinese officials, US officials would have quickly denounced it as religious persecution.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com