You can hardly call this retired diplomat an ex-diplomat, when the same person addresses a gathering of foreign correspondents in Hong Kong in a meeting organized by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But there it is, Chen Jian, a former undersecretary-general of the UN and former Chinese ambassador to Japan, may be the best vehicle to unofficially announce views that may be held by Chinese officials. And Chen Jian says, “It is in the US interest to quarrel with China, but not to fight with China.”

Ahead of the 18^th Communist Party Congress, scheduled to launch in Beijing next Thursday, Chen’s views are of significance, and he points the finger at U.S. over troubles between China and Japan over the Senkaku islands.

In his speech at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Hong Kong, Mr. Chen directly told the audience that the steps taken by U.S. over the disputed islands, “suits the purpose of the right wing in Japan more than perfectly – their long-held dream is now possible to be realized.”

However, the U.S. maintains that the according to its defense treaty with Japan it is bound to side with that country in case of dispute over the islands China is claiming as its own.

Mr. Chen warned that U.S. intervention in territorial disputes between China and other nations in the South China Sea was a US strategy to expand its influence and restrain the influence of China. He asked the assembled audience, which included dozens of Chinese diplomats, “Will these countries misjudge and draw China and the United States into a confrontation?” He also alluded to the fact that U.S. kept siding with Philippines, wherever China had disputes with Philippines over territories.

He told the audience, “The danger is apparent, and China needs to be aware of that.”

Curiously, for a former diplomat, he almost seemed to be playing the official voice of China, when he said, “China does not seek to provoke incidents, and will not be the one to do so first.”

Mr. Chen is currently the dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing.

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