For some time now, the political circle in the United States has been playing up the "China threat". Some politicians there are claiming that China poses a "threat" to the US in the field of security, science and technology, economy and more.

The reason why they keep hyping up the "China threat" is mainly because they cling to the concept of hegemony and are deeply anxious about their country's declining hegemony. The US is committed to a zero-sum mentality and will not tolerate any country catching up with it.

The China-bashing politicians cannot tolerate China's continued development and will do everything possible to contain China's development, including creating the "China threat" theory.

As a matter of fact, it is the US that poses a threat to world peace and development and to the legitimate development rights and interests of other countries.

Repeated military actions, instigated and funded by the US, have caused untold civilian casualties, provoked geopolitical conflicts everywhere and caused instability worldwide since the end of World War II.

For many years, the hegemonic practices of the US have jeopardized world peace and development, and the world has suffered from them for too long.

As for China, it is the US that has been threatening China's sovereignty and territorial integrity by continuously interfering in its internal affairs, be it in Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong or Tibet.

The US' crying "China threat" is no less than a thief crying "stop thief".

Peddling the "China threat" theory also helps some US politicians to divert domestic attention from some intractable problems in the US, such as the dysfunctional political system, economic imbalance and social disorder, rampant gun violence, widening income gap and deepening racial contradictions, which they have neither the intention nor the ability to solve.

Scapegoating China is not only easy and effective for the aforementioned purposes but also lucrative for some interest groups. For instance, it provides the US government an excuse to increase military spending and win more orders for its military industry.

However, hyping up the "China threat" will not rid the US of its problems; instead it will only aggravate them.

The US should adopt an objective and rational understanding of China, pursue a positive and pragmatic policy toward China and replace confrontation with cooperation.