The U.S. Department of State recently announced to slash the staff size of five Chinese media outlets in the United States, which is expulsion in all but name. Obviously, the impact of such practice is not limited in the media industry, and is bound to create negative influence and new uncertainties for the relationship between the two countries.

The evil intention of the U.S. is clearly presented in its practice, and it’s easy to tell rights and wrongs. The unreasonable decision of the U.S. runs counter to established international rules, and only reveals the hypocrisy and hegemony of the U.S. administration.

Chinese journalists stationed in the U.S. have been strictly abiding by U.S. laws and regulations and carrying out news reporting under the principle of objectivity, fairness, truthfulness and accuracy.

It’s not the first day for the White House to deal with China, and it knows well how the Chinese work. However, it is still draining its brain to label China. What the U.S. has done has severely violated the normal and legal rights and interests of Chinese journalists carrying out news covers overseas, and damaged the reputation of the Chinese media and journalists.

The expulsion was no incident. China-U.S. relations have been generally moving forward over the past 40 years, from limited exchanges at the beginning to the current deep integration in multiple areas. Unfortunately, when a grand mansion of bilateral relations has been built, certain Americans are showing ill mentalities and shifting their efforts to demolishing it. The U.S. is now politicalizing almost everything, and even the normal exchanges in the cultural sector between China and the U.S. are considered a “threat” by the White House – which perfectly explains such ill mentalities.

While beating their brains out to contain China-U.S. exchanges, these Americans are acting innocent and posing as “victims.” For instance, the U.S. is doing everything to cook up the so-called threat of the Chinese media, as if the only super power in the world was fragile – there’s just too much acting. The attacks on Chinese media are totally groundless, and the expulsion of Chinese journalists is nothing but political oppression.

A major reason for the rising disputes and contradictions over China-U.S. relations is the growing Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices of certain Americans. By exaggerating media competition, the U.S. is indeed inciting a competition between American and Chinese modes.

It once again used the so-called “reciprocity” to make its practice sound fairer, but what causes the alienation of the China-U.S. relations is the non- reciprocity in how the two countries view other side development.

China has always advocated to develop its relations with the U.S. on the basis of mutual respect and shelving differences while seeking common ground, and has never imposed any so-called threat for the survival of the U.S. However, when it turns to the U.S., Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices are always unavoidable, which propels certain Americans to “change” China. They fan up so-called “Chinese challenges” and “Chinese threats”, because they are afraid of their own shadows.

Such ill mentalities to create contradictions will only lead to troubles, which not only hurts the interests of both countries, but also threatens the common interests of the world. At present, to effectively manage differences, China and U.S. shall maintain unimpeded communication as much as possible, rather than blocking existing channels and politically burdening their bilateral relations.

The U.S. should correct its mistake of expulsing Chinese journalists, and make a responsible choice to ensure the general stability of China-U.S. relations.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)