BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Washington's long-standing addiction to bullyism has become a grave threat to global stability and peace.
The United States has shown ultra enthusiasm in brandishing the tariff stick against its main trade partners, including the European Union(EU), Japan, Canada, Mexico and China.
The intention of such actions is plain and simple: it is determined to crush anyone it sees a threat to its global dominance. And that is exactly what it has been doing since it became a superpower in the aftermath of World War II.
To do that, Washington has used all kinds of weapons, including military intervention, economic sanctions and lies. And as Washington jostles for self-interests and global supremacy, many around the world have fallen victim.
Before invading Iraq in March 2003, then U.S. administration lied to the international community that then-President Saddam Hussein was aiding and abetting terrorists, and possessed large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq.
The war led by the United States without a UN mandate threw Iraq into turmoil and the war-torn nation has never recovered till this day.
America's allies have also been on the long list of Washington's victims.
In 1985, the United States signed the Plaza Accord with France, former West Germany, Japan and Britain. Many of the world's mainstream economists believe that the accord has helped turn off Japan's strong economic growth in the 1980s, and bring the country into a protracted period of deflation and low growth known as the Lost Decade.
Right at the moment, Washington is locked in a trade battle with its European allies. It imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on the EU last year, and is threatening to levy heavy duties on cars imported from Europe.
Due to its hubris, Washington discards the spirit of free trade and widely recognized international treaties willfully.
Since the 1980s, it has twice pulled out of the United Nations' culture and education body UNESCO, and in 2001 unilaterally withdrew from Kyoto Protocol, an international pact on combating climate change.
Wielding the "America First" doctrine, the current U.S. administration is abandoning even more of America's international commitments, including withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change and pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal.
In an opinion piece, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times Martin Wolf wrote that the U.S. government believes in "transactions over alliances, bilateralism over multilateralism, unpredictability over consistency, power over rules and interests over ideals."
The very essence of the post-war world order is to promote multilateral cooperation and economic globalization. Sadly, Washington's obsession with hegemony is sowing seeds for confrontation in many parts of the world, and is killing the global system it helped establish and from which it has benefitted so much over the decades.
To promote its key national interests, the United States needs to cure itself its addition to bullyism and shoulder its due responsibilities as a major power for the common interests of the world. Being a bully may get temporary advantages, but is bound to bring long-term harm to itself.
