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Tensions are high in the Korean Peninsula, yet again.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday fired two more ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters and scrambled a squadron of 12 fighter jets close to the airspace of the Republic of Korea (ROK). This was the DPRK's 6th ballistic missile test within the past two weeks – including the one on Tuesday that flew over Japan – and came a day after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) met to discuss the situation in the peninsula.

If one goes by the narrative the U.S. and its allies have traditionally pushed as they did at Wednesday's UNSC meeting, it would appear as if Pyongyang is solely responsible for the heightened tensions in the peninsula.

"These launches violate multiple Security Council resolutions and pose a threat to not only the region but to the entire international community," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, said, presenting a joint statement at the UNSC meeting on behalf of a handful of allies including ROK and Japan.

"We will not stay silent as the DPRK works to undermine the global nonproliferation regime and threaten the international community," the U.S. envoy said as she called on all UN member states, and especially UNSC members, to join Washington in condemning Pyongyang's "reckless behavior."

What this narrative conveniently, or rather deliberately, overlooks is Washington's relentless incitement against the DPRK for decades – including the ongoing joint U.S.-ROK military exercises – that is at the core of the volatile situation in the Korean Peninsula. These exercises have seen the redeployment of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, in Korean waters and involved joint bombing and missile drills.

The DPRK has fervently justified its tests as necessary countermeasures against the U.S.-ROK joint military drills as it blamed Washington for intensifying military tensions in the region. Any objective observer would agree that there certainly is merit to Pyongyang's assertions.

As such, the recent spate of DPRK's missile launches shouldn't be seen in isolation but as a response to the latest U.S. provocation along with the relevant historical background and contexts, a point that was rightly highlighted by the Chinese envoy to the UN at Wednesday's UNSC meeting.

"We have taken note of the recent launches by the DPRK. We have also noticed the multiple joint military exercises held by the U.S. and other countries recently in the region. A brief examination will reveal that the DPRK launch activities took place either before or after such military exercises, and did not exist in isolation," stated Geng Shuang, the Chinese Ambassador to the UN.

The U.S. playbook of provocation

Provocation comes so naturally to the U.S. that it has nearly become an integral part of Washington's official foreign policy and military doctrine against its perceived enemies or adversaries. This U.S. policy is enacted through a range of tools such as punitive political and economic measures including sanctions and trade wars; joint military exercises targeting specific countries; and rallying or coercing allies into forming small regional cliques to intimidate those countries.

And the moment a country being thus targeted retaliates in manners that it considers suitable in its national and sovereign interests, Washington cries foul blaming the very country that it had systematically cornered and incited for being provocative and calling for international actions.

This has been a key strategy in the U.S. playbook and one could easily detect the traces of this formula being followed ad nauseam in Washington's dealings not only with the DPRK but also with China, Russia, Iran, Syria et al. The U.S. military presence in different parts of the world has inadvertently triggered more wars and regional conflicts than bringing about peace and stability. Who isn't aware of the disastrous consequences of U.S. involvement in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and, more recently, Ukraine?

The Korean Peninsula is no different. It has to be acknowledged that the crisis in the peninsula is complex and not as black and white as the U.S. would like the world to believe. At the heart of it is the confrontation between the U.S. and the DPRK that has led to the massive deployment of American military hardware and personnel in and around the ROK. The presence of the U.S. anti-nuclear weapons system not only adds to the simmering pressure, it severely undermines the global nonproliferation regime.

Without a question, the U.S. military presence exacerbates tensions in the Korean Peninsula and is the main factor of instability in the region and beyond. Mind you, it isn't the DPRK military that has traveled thousands of miles to intimidate the U.S., it is the other way around.

While under the former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, Washington took some baby steps to improve the situation that included two summit meetings between the then U.S. president and the DPRK leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore (June 2018) and Hanoi, Vietnam (February 2019); the U.S. failed miserably ever since to reciprocate adequately to the DPRK's positive measures. The U.S. failed to acknowledge the denuclearization measures taken by the DPRK while also ignoring its legitimate and reasonable concerns. As a result, the historic DPRK-U.S. dialogue initiated by the Trump administration has reached a deadlock.

Even as the DPRK-U.S. relations remain stifled in mistrust, the U.S. has pushed for reinforcing its military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region and intensifying the risk of military competition and conflict over the nuclear issue. The irresponsible U.S. actions are only poisoning the regional security environment further. With Washington egging on its regional allies like Japan and ROK for a showdown with the DPRK, the heightened tensions in the Korean Peninsula are hardly surprising.

China: Dialogue and consultation only way

China believes that dialogue and consultation are the only way to resolve the Korean Peninsula issue. The past has shown that when dialogue succeeds, relative stability prevails in the peninsula. "We call on the U.S. to take concrete actions, demonstrate its sincerity, and effectively address the legitimate and reasonable concerns of the DPRK, so as to create conditions for the resumption of dialogue," China's UN envoy Geng Shuang said.

It is also incumbent on the UN Security Council to play a constructive role on the matter, instead of relying solely on the strong one-sided rhetoric or pressure led by the U.S. The UNSC's discussions and deliberations should contribute to a detente, rather than fueling escalation. They should promote the resumption of dialogue, instead of widening differences, and forge unity, instead of creating divisions.

To this extent, China and Russia have jointly tabled a resolution on the DPRK, with the intention to ease the humanitarian situation on the ground, create a favorable atmosphere for mutual trust among all parties and the resumption of dialogue, and inject impetus into the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue. The UNSC members must seriously, objectively and without any prejudice actively consider this draft text, which is still on the table.

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