It is inappropriate as well as unacceptable for the United States Department of Defense to point an accusing finger at China over the Diaoyu Islands dispute.
Japan has been raising tensions with China over the islands, and the US' stance could have a negative impact on regional stability, as it could embolden increasingly right-winged Japanese politicians to go even further with unwarranted territorial and military provocations.
The US has said on many occasions that it does not take sides in the Diaoyu Islands disputes, but the Pentagon report lays bare the US' inconsistency in its position. As China takes territorial integrity as a core interest, it would be a miscalculation to think that China will compromise its territorial integrity under pressure from the outside.
China holds irrefutable evidence for its sovereignty over the disputed islands, and its announcement of the base points and baselines of the territorial waters of the islands and their affiliated islets is fully justified and lawful.
