Several countries have blamed China for the exchange of fire between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) last week. Many media outlets in the United States, Japan and the ROK have been particularly critical of Beijing.

But this is not the first time that they are making China the scapegoat. They tried to blame China when the DPRK conducted the second nuclear test in May and even for the Cheonan incident in March. It's easy for them to pass the buck by urging China to exert pressure on the DPRK to reach a compromise. They think that only by criticizing the DPRK and influencing its decisions can China play the role of a responsible power. But what they have forgotten in the process is that they too should make efforts to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula.

As a friendly neighbor of the DPRK, China has been helping it to develop its economy and raise the living standards of its people. It is true, too, that the two neighbors have relatively close economic and political relations.