Digging in the wrong garden [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

U.S. President Barack Obama vowed in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night that Washington will continue to focus on the Asia-Pacific and support its allies in the region.

A constructive America will be a real blessing for the region, but Obama should have realized by now that his pivoting, or re-balancing, is not working well and needs to be updated.

Nearly two years after the Obama administration coined the trademark policy, a strategic revision of decades-long U.S. emphasis on the tumultuous Middle East, tensions are mounting in the Asia-Pacific region, triggering widespread worries about possible confrontation.

Deep in its nature, Washington's current Asia doctrine is rooted in the firm determination to guarantee that U.S. hegemony and security interests remain unchallenged in a region that is still the most economically dynamic part of the world.

Boosting military presence is an integral part of the policy. Following its set strategy, the United States is going to deploy 60 percent of its fleet in the Pacific, and equip the Pacific Command with the most cutting-edge capabilities by 2020.

The pivot policy is widely conceived as an attempt to contain rapidly developing China. Washington has repeatedly claimed innocence, but facts on the ground have rendered its explanations weak and lame.

The United States has been a dedicated critic of China's military development, tagging China's legitimate military investment as moves merely to acquire regional domination.

Washington has also actively thrust itself into regional maritime disputes between China and countries like Japan and the Philippines, portraying itself as a neutral party but actually siding with its allies.